Counting to 20 Song and Dance

Singing and dancing can help you learn the numbers 1 through 20. Pick a tune you already know and sing the numbers to it. Stomp your feet with every number. Clap your hands. Jump up high on the big numbers. When you move your body while counting, your brain learns the numbers even faster.

The numbers from 1 to 20 are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. The first ten are easy. The teens (11 to 19) can be tricky because they have funny names. But if you sing them, they get stuck in your head. By 20, you have a nice round number that ends a whole group of two tens.

Try counting 1 to 20 like this: whisper 1, say 2 normal, shout 3! Whisper 4, say 5 normal, shout 6! Keep the pattern. Or: march in place while counting. One step per number. Or: sing the numbers to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle. The numbers are the same, but the song makes them easier to remember. After three tries, you will know 1 to 20 by heart.

The numbers from 11 to 19 are called teen numbers. Thir-teen means 3 plus 10. Four-teen means 4 plus 10. Fif-teen means 5 plus 10. Every teen number is really a 10 with something extra. Once you see this pattern, the teens stop being scary. When you get to 20, you have two full groups of ten. The count can keep going forever past 20 too: 21, 22, 23, and up and up.