Subitizing Teaching Resources
Are you on the hunt for subitizing activities, task cards, worksheets and games for your lesson plans to make sure this math skill sticks in those little minds?
The Teach Starter teacher team has assembled a complete collection of teacher-created printables and digital options to teach your students how to subitize and build their crucial counting and cardinality skills.
Aligned with both TEKS and the Common Core math curriculum, this collection of teacher resources has undergone a careful review by a member of our teacher team to ensure it's ready for your classroom and your students!
Is this your first year teaching this part of the math curriculum, or your first time in a few years? Don't fret! The math teachers on our teaching team have put together a quick refresher on the definition of subitizing and some tips on how to teach this crucial math skill.
What Is Subitizing in Math?
Not familiar with the word subitizing? Don't feel bad — it's not one every teacher learns in college.
Subitizing is the ability to instantly recognize the number of objects in a small group without the need to count them. It's essentially "seeing" amounts of things without being given a number in digit form.
For example, when a student rolls a die, if they can instantly recognize the number of dots on its face, that's because they know how to subitize. Subitizing in kindergarten and 1st grade is all about helping students to relate numbers to actual items or groups of items.
This math concept comes from Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, the man whose theory of cognitive development is well-regarded in educational circles.
Subitizing Pronunciation — How to Say Subitize
We've had more than a few teachers ask us about the proper subitizing pronunciation. Does the suffix "sub" have a short u sound like the "sub" in subtraction?
It would make sense. After all, they are both math terms. The answer may (or may not!) surprise you.
Subitising is pronounced with a long u sound —/oo/.
The word comes from the Latin subit(us) meaning sudden and has no relation to subtraction at all!
How to Teach Subitizing
It's an important mathematical concept, but just how do you teach subitizing?
The key is to expose students to number patterns so they can begin to compose and decompose numbers mentally, setting the stage for "seeing" those numbers in small groups of objects.
To help you get started, our teaching team has put together dozens of resources, each of which has been reviewed by expert teachers to ensure they're classroom-ready! But we didn't stop there. Try these tips from our team:
1. Add Number Talks to Your Routine
You'll notice plenty of number talks resources for teachers on the Teach Starter site, and for good reason. Giving students a chance to play with numbers every day — even if it's just for 5 or 10 minutes — creates repetition that can help your students build their number sense.
2. Apply the 4 Corners Concept to Subitizing
Mount numbers on the classroom wall, and use the Teach Starter random dice roller to randomly roll the die. Project the result onto your whiteboard or smartboard, and direct students to move to the wall with the correct number.
3. Use Hands-on Manipulatives
It may sound obvious, but don't forget to pull out those manipulatives! Dice and dominoes are particularly helpful for building number sense.
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Aliens in a Spaceship Counting and Subitizing Game
Download a fun, hands-on game for teaching kids to count and use one-to-one correspondence or to subitize.
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Subitize and Color – Worksheet
Practice subitizing to five with this color-by-number worksheet.
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Number Recognition Bingo - Numbers 0 — 10 (Small Group)
Reinforce your students’ number recognition skills with this fun BINGO game!
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Ten Frame Variety Pack
Enliven your ten frame activities with this variety pack that contains both single and double ten frame templates.
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Virtual Subitizing Card Deck
Display these virtual subitizing cards to teach your students to instantly recognize quantities.
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Number Talks - Subitizing Task Cards
Build number sense skills with this set of 30 subitizing task cards.
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Subitizing Numbers to 10 - Worksheet
A worksheet for students to use when learning to subitize numbers to 10.
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Number Recognition 0-5 Color-by-Number Pack
Practice number recognition with this color-by-number activity pack! Students color varied representations of the numbers 0-5 to solidify their understanding.
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Subitizing Slap It!
Help students strengthen subitizing skills with this multiplayer math card game!
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Ten Frame - Printable Templates
Print a set of 10 blank ten frames to use in various math lessons.
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Count the Chicks! Easter Counting Activity
Practice recognizing, counting, and subitizing numbers from 1-20 with this Easter math activity.
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Spring Math Activity - Ten Frame Task Cards
Step up your students’ number recognition, counting, and subitizing skills with a printable set of Spring Tens Frame task cards.
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Subitize This! – Lesson Warm-up
Use this subitizing slide deck as a quick warm-up before your lessons.
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Subitize and Exercise – Brain Break Activity
Get active with this subitize and exercise brain break activity.
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Subitizing Battle
Quickly subitize and compare numbers up to 5 with this fast-paced card game.
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Subitizing Sorting Activity
Practice recognizing the quantity of a small group of objects with this subitizing sorting activity.
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Spot the Dots Subitizing 1–10 Activity
A set of 1-10 subitizing cards that can be used in a variety of ways.
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Cover Up! - Subitizing Numbers Game
Help students instantly recognize numbers 1-6 with this multiplayer Valentine’s Day board game.
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Subitizing Leapfrog Game
A fun game for students to play when learning to subitize numbers from 1 to 6.
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Subitizing 1 to 12 - Dominoes
A set of dominoes to use in the classroom when learning to subitize numbers from 1 to 12.
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Subitizing 1 to 12 - Memory Game
A set of subitizing cards for students to play a game of memory when learning to subitize numbers.
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Number Recognition BINGO (Numbers 0 — 20)
Solidify your students’ number recognition skills for numbers 0 - 20 with this printable Bingo game!
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Subitizing Small Collections PowerPoint
An interactive, 34-slide editable PowerPoint presentation to use when teaching students to subitize.