Skip Counting Tips & Tricks

2-4-6-8 what do we appreciate? Skip Counting!

Okay, so maybe that was a little bit cheesy, but recently I've gained a new appreciation for teaching skip counting to my (borrowed) homeschool students. Unfortunately, multiplication and division have never been my strong suit. So, when I realized that Miss M (one of the sweet little girls I work with) was able to multiply despite the fact that she had never formally been taught the concept, I was impressed. Her abilities were all due to the fact that she was excellent at... You guessed it...

Skip counting.

Now, we all know that skip counting isn't a particularly exciting concept to teach or learn, but I've put together a couple of ideas that might make it a little more interesting for you and your student(s). Why don't you try some of them out? You might be impressed at how much you both learn!

1) Listen to some skip counting songs. Have Fun Teaching has a bunch of fun little skip counting "rap" and "dance" songs on their website. They are still pretty "goofy" but would definitely be much more appealing to children than something sung to "The Alphabet Song" or "Twinkle, Twinkle" (though you could certainly use those if you wish). Listen to their songs here, or download them from Amazon or iTunes!

2) Look for some fun games online. Math is Fun has a neat list of timed drills where students are required to click and fill in a box with number skip counting up, and even backwards. In addition to have activities for skip counting by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10, they also have activities for skip counting by 25, 50, and 100.

3) Skip count round robin style. This activity would be fun to play as a family in the car, or while waiting at a restaurant. Agree on a number to count by (for example, 3's) and then go around the family with each member saying one number. If you mess up you're "out!" (It's always fun if Mom or Dad messes up an "easy" one!) See who can make it the furthest.

4) Make it a game! Grab a pair of dice, a deck of cards, or a set of dominoes and get ready for a challenge. Roll both of your dice, and skip count by one of the numbers, starting on the other. (For example, if you roll a 3 and a 7, you could skip count by 3's starting on 7, or skip count by 7's starting on 3.) To play with cards, simply draw two from the deck. If you are playing with dominoes, draw one, and use the number of dots on either end as your two numbers.

5) Get up and MOVE. Have your student count by 1's, but have them clap or jump on a designated number (i.e. multiples of two, five, or ten). For example, if you told them to count by 1's, and jump on multiples of 5, a correct response would be: "1, 2, 3, 4, jump, 6, 7, 8, 9, jump, 11, 12, 13..."

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these activities, or share an idea of your own! I'm always looking for new tricks to add to my teaching tool-kit!