Skip counting frog

What skip counting is

Skip counting means counting forward by the same amount each time: 5, 10, 15, 20. It is the bridge between counting and multiplying, because the fourth number you say when counting by 5s is 4 × 5. Children who can skip count fluently have the times tables halfway learned.

On this page you choose the step: 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 or 25. The frog starts at 0 on a number line with twelve hops marked. Before each hop, the child picks one of three numbers or types their own answer. A right answer sends the frog hopping and writes the number on the line; a wrong one gets a hint to count on from where the frog is. After two wrong tries, Show me makes the hop and shows the answer in gray. The readout keeps the sequence so far.

Why predict first

Chanting "5, 10, 15" can become a song with no meaning. Asking for the next landing number before the hop makes the child work it out: 20 + 5 is 25. The tick marks between the numbers are left blank, so the child has to count on rather than read the answer off the line. The hop arcs show that every jump is the same size.

Common mix-ups

• Counting the number the frog is on as the first step, so 15 + 5 becomes 19. Point out that the hop starts at 15 and lands on 20.
• Jumping two steps at once, such as saying 25 after 15 in the 5s. The three choices include near misses like this one.
• Losing the pattern when it crosses a hundred, such as 75, 100, 125 in the 25s.
• Thinking skip counting only starts at the step number. The frog starts at 0, which helps later with the 0 times table.

A 10-minute skip counting routine

• Pick 10s. Let the child hop to 120 quickly to warm up.
• Switch to 5s. Before each hop, ask the child to say the answer aloud, then choose it.
• When the frog reaches the end, read the sequence together and ask what pattern the ones digits make.
• Choose the table the child is learning, such as 4s, and have them type every answer instead of choosing.
• Finish by asking how many hops it took to reach 20 by 4s, and connect it to 5 × 4 = 20.

Where it fits by grade

• Kindergarten: count to 100 by ones and by tens (K.CC.A.1). In England, Year 1 counts in multiples of twos, fives and tens.
• Grade 2: skip count by 5s, 10s and 100s within 1,000 (2.NBT.A.2), and count by 2s to decide if a number is even (2.OA.C.3). In England, Year 2 counts in steps of 2, 3 and 5 from 0.
• Grade 3: patterns in multiplication (3.OA.D.9) and knowing all products of one-digit numbers (3.OA.C.7). In England, Year 3 counts in multiples of 4 and 8, and Year 4 in multiples of 25.

Learning more

Times tables and counting money are skills on Eurekami's skill map, and Daily Practice brings them back when they start to fade. Lessons draw diagrams live from the numbers in each question, and teachers can print worksheets with answer keys on the same skills.