Eagerly Skip counting on a number line
How kids learn to skip count by 2s, 5s and 10s on a number line, and how it helps with money, clocks and times tables.
What it is
Skip counting is counting in equal jumps: 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10, 20, 30. On a number line, each jump is a hop of the same size.
Why it matters
It makes counting faster, and it's how kids count nickels, dimes and minutes on a clock. It's also the first step to times tables: 4 hops of 5 land on 20, so 4 × 5 = 20.
A picture walk-through
- Count by 10s: 10, 20, 30, 40. Only the tens digit changes.
- Count by 5s: the numbers end in 5 or 0, every time.
- Find the missing number: 0, 5, 10, ?, 20.
Things to say at home
- “What pattern do you notice at the end of the numbers?”
- “Can you count back by 10s from 100?”
- “Start at 3 and count by 10s.” (3, 13, 23… a nice stretch.)
Common mix-ups
- Counting the starting point as a hop. On a number line, hops are the jumps between numbers, not the numbers themselves.
- Losing the rhythm past 100. Saying “one hundred five, one hundred ten” out loud helps.
