When I returned to Australia after teaching overseas in Dubai, I took over a Grade 1 class.
One of the first things I noticed was that many of my students needed more time developing their basic number facts, number sense and place value skills. And I knew that if we could strengthen those foundations first, it would make such a difference when we moved on to other areas of math.
So, rather than rushing ahead, I spent two weeks really focusing on number.
Each day, I would explicitly teach one number concept and then students would move into hands-on rotations where they could practise those skills in different ways. This also gave me the opportunity to pull individual students or small groups aside and really see what they understood, where the gaps were and what they needed next.
Those two weeks ended up being incredibly valuable.
A couple of years later, I taught the same class again in Grade 3, and I could see that strong number foundation was still there. They had developed a flexibility with numbers that they could draw on as the math became more complex.
It reinforced something I still believe strongly today: time spent building number sense is never wasted time.
If you are looking to strengthen those foundations in your own classroom, here are eight hands-on Grade 1 number sense activities that are perfect for math rotations, small groups, intervention or independent practice.
What should number sense look like in Grade 1?
Number sense is much more than being able to count or recognise a number.
We want Grade 1 students to begin understanding how numbers work and how they relate to one another. That includes skills such as counting forwards and backwards, comparing numbers, understanding tens and ones, representing numbers in different ways, partitioning numbers, recognising odd and even numbers and beginning to add and subtract flexibly.
The activities in our Grade 1 Hands-On Number Activities Pack target skills including counting, greater than and less than, ordinal numbers, representing two-digit numbers, partitioning numbers, writing numbers in words, odd and even numbers and adding and subtracting 10.
The key is giving students lots of opportunities to see, make, talk about and manipulate numbers, rather than only completing pages of written questions.
Here are some of my favourite ways to do that:
1. Start counting from anywhere
We often ask young students to count from 1, but being able to begin counting from a number such as 37 or 64 tells us much more about their understanding of the number sequence.
For this Custom Counting activity, students choose a number card, place it in the middle of a counting board and then continue the sequence forwards and backwards from that number. It is simple, but there is so much learning happening.
Students have to think about what comes before and after a number, cross decade boundaries and pay attention to patterns within our number system.
You can also easily adjust the activity to match the students in front of you. Students needing support can work with smaller starting numbers and count by one, while students ready for more can skip count by 2s, 5s or 10s.
Teacher tip: This is a fantastic activity to watch rather than simply check afterwards. Listen to students as they cross numbers such as 39 to 40 or 59 to 60. Those moments can tell you a lot about how securely they understand the number sequence.
2. Compare numbers with More or Less Alligators
Greater than and less than symbols can feel quite abstract to six- and seven-year-olds. Giving students something visual makes that language much easier to understand.
In the More or Less Alligators activity, students choose two number cards and select the correct greater than, less than or equal symbol to create a true number sentence. They then record their thinking before choosing two new numbers and trying again.
I like this activity because students aren’t simply memorising which way a symbol points. They are actively deciding:
Which number is larger? Which is smaller? Are they equal?
That mathematical language is just as important as the symbol itself.
The included cards also provide language scaffolds such as more/greater, less/smaller and the same/equal, which makes this activity particularly useful when students are first developing the vocabulary of comparison.
To differentiate, simply change the size of the numbers students are comparing.
3. Put ordinal numbers back together
Ordinal numbers can be surprisingly tricky for Grade 1 students because they need to connect several representations: 3rd, third, and the actual position something holds in a sequence.
Ordinal Number Puzzles turn that learning into a hands-on challenge. Students first build their understanding of ordinal number language and then piece together picture puzzles in the correct ordinal order.
This is a great example of an activity where students can work independently once they understand the task, which makes it ideal for rotations. And because the finished picture gives students a clue about whether they are correct, there is an element of built-in self-checking too.
4. Build pictures with base-ten blocks
Place value makes much more sense when students can actually touch and manipulate tens and ones.
But we can take that one step further than simply saying, “Show me 46.”
In MAB Pictures, students choose a number card and use tens and ones blocks to create a picture that represents that amount. They then photograph or draw their creation and explain how many tens and ones they used.
For example, a student working with 75 might use seven tens and five ones but arrange those blocks to create a house, robot or anything else they can imagine.The number stays the same, but the task brings creativity into place value.
This is also a lovely opportunity to ask:
“Could you make the same number a different way?”
For students ready for more challenge, the pack suggests using three-digit numbers or asking them to partition a number in a non-standard way. Instead of representing 40 as four tens, for example, they might use two tens and twenty ones.
That is where we begin moving from simply identifying place value to actually thinking flexibly about it.
5. Make a number from clues
Once students know how to represent a number, we want them to start reasoning about numbers too.
I love Make a Number cards because they are open ended and allow students to explore numbers and apply their knowledge. These cards give students clues such as:
- More than 31
- Less than 52
- Larger than 40 but smaller than 48
Students then create a number that satisfies the clue using digit cards, dice or base-ten materials.Some cards contain more than one condition, so students need to think carefully about all the information before choosing their number.
I love this type of task because there isn’t always one answer. If I say, “Make a number greater than 40 but smaller than 48,” students have several possibilities. That opens the door to much richer conversations:
“What number did you make?”
“Could there be another answer?”
“How do you know it fits the clue?”
Students can also record their number using base-ten blocks, identify one more and one less, decide whether it is odd or even and write the number in words. One simple task can suddenly practise a whole collection of Grade 1 number sense skills.
6. Match all the different ways to represent a number
A student may recognise 51, but do they also recognise:
- Fifty-one
- 50 + 1
- Five tens and one one
- A base-ten representation
- One less than 52
- Whether the number is odd or even?
That ability to connect multiple representations is such an important part of number sense.
The Representing Numbers Bunting activity turns those different representations into a matching task. Students find the pieces that belong to the same number and connect them to create a set.
Students aren’t simply matching identical information. They have to interpret each representation and decide whether it describes the same number. This is also another activity that works really well independently. One classroom management trick included in the pack is to mark matching sets with coloured dots on the back so students can check their own work once they have finished.
That little bit of self-correction can make a huge difference when you’re trying to run rotations and work with another group at the same time.
7. Piece together partitioning puzzles
Partitioning numbers is one of those Grade 1 place value skills that we want students to understand deeply, not just memorise. Partitioning Puzzles ask students to match different representations of the same number.
For example, a puzzle for 81 connects the numeral 81 with:
- Eighty-one
- 8 tens and 1 one
- 80 + 1
- A base-ten representation
The beauty of this activity is that students have to move backwards and forwards between representations. Instead of simply being told that 81 has eight tens and one one, they need to recognise that all of those different pieces are describing the same quantity.
8. Practise adding and subtracting 10 with popsicles
Adding and subtracting 10 becomes much easier when students begin noticing what actually changes in the number.
+10 Popsicles and -10 Popsicles turn this into a matching activity.
For +10, students choose a starting piece, find the number that is 10 more, and then another number that is 10 more again. For subtraction, they begin with the top piece and work down in steps of 10.
For example:
13 → 23 → 33
or
83 → 73 → 63.
The popsicles give students a visual way to practise the pattern repeatedly while still having to think about each relationship. Students who need support can use a 100 chart alongside the activity, while students who are ready for an extension can be challenged to continue adding or subtracting another 10.
How I would use these Grade 1 number sense activities in rotations
You definitely don’t need to put all eight activities out at once.
In fact, I wouldn’t.
I prefer to explicitly teach a concept first and then use the hands-on activity as the opportunity for students to practise, apply and consolidate what they have learned.
You might introduce comparing numbers during your whole-class lesson, for example, then place More or Less Alligators into your rotations. Once students understand the task and can work independently, you can continue using it while you introduce something new elsewhere.
Over time, you build a collection of familiar activities students can return to again and again. That familiarity matters. Students don’t need you to explain a brand-new game every time they rotate. They already understand how the activity works, which means their attention can stay on the math.
And meanwhile, you are free to sit with a small group, assess an individual student or provide targeted support where it is actually needed.
Don’t forget differentiation
One of the biggest challenges with Grade 1 math rotations is that students can be working at very different levels.
One child might still need support identifying what comes after 38, while another is ready to skip count from an unfamiliar starting point. One student may be building two-digit numbers with tens and ones while another is ready to represent those numbers in non-standard ways.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need completely different activities. Often, you just need a way to adjust the numbers, representations, supports or level of reasoning. You can change starting numbers, introduce different counting patterns, increase or decrease the size of numbers, provide supports such as a 100 chart, or use more challenging task cards for students who are ready to go further.
It means your whole class can often be working on the same mathematical idea without every student having to complete exactly the same level of task.
Want these Grade 1 number sense activities ready to go?
If you’re reading through these ideas thinking, These would be great… but I don’t particularly want to spend my weekend making all of them, that’s exactly why we put them together.
Our Grade 1 Number Sense Activities contains these activities, task cards, number cards, place value resources, recording sheets, differentiation guidance and assessment tools ready for you to use. The activities are designed for math rotations, learning centers, small-group lessons, intervention and independent practice.
You can choose an individual activity when your students need extra practice with a particular concept, or use several together to create a sequence of number sense rotations. The planning has already been done.
You can spend your time introducing the math, working with the students who need you and watching their understanding grow. Because when our youngest mathematicians develop a strong sense of how numbers work, we are giving them a foundation they can keep building on long after Grade 1.
Grab your copy of the activities featured in this post HERE.
Rainbows ahead 🌈
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About the Author: Ashleigh Smith
Ashleigh Smith is an experienced primary educator, former school leader and Co-Founder of Rainbow Sky Creations. With almost 20 years in education, Ashleigh has taught in Australia and internationally in Dubai, UAE. Today, she draws on her classroom and leadership experience to create practical, engaging resources that save teachers time and make learning meaningful and fun. A passionate cheerleader for teachers, Ashleigh is all about helping educators work smarter, not harder. She also co-hosts the Rainbow Skies for Teachers podcast, sharing practical ideas, strategies and encouragement with primary teachers around the world. Connect with her on Instagram or LinkedIn.
