Counting forwards and backwards (age 6+)
Count forwards and backwards in tens from any number (not just multiples of 10)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Count 7, 17, 27, 37 … from a non-multiple starting point
- Count backwards in tens from 83
- Explain the pattern of adding/subtracting 10
1 · Read
You already know that a two-digit number has a tens digit and a ones digit. Counting in tens uses that idea. Each time you count up or down by ten, only the tens digit changes. The ones digit stays exactly the same.
Zara starts at 83 and counts backwards in tens. She says 83, 73, 63, 53. Each hop takes away 10, and the ones digit, 3, never changes.
Look at the tens digit and move that one up or down, one step at a time. From 37, forwards goes 37, 47, 57 (tens digit: 3, 4, 5). Backwards goes 37, 27, 17 (tens digit: 3, 2, 1).
Counting in tens moves the tens digit up or down by one each time, while the ones digit never changes.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
18 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.