🧮Mathematics·15 min·Sample Lesson

Skip Counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s: The Fast Way to Count

Imagine you have to count 20 shoes lined up in a hallway, one at a time -- that's a lot of counting! But if you count them two at a time instead, '2, 4, 6, 8...', you'll finish in half the time. That trick is called skip counting, and it's one of the most useful shortcuts in math.

What You'll Learn

In this lesson you will: - Skip count by 2s up to 20 - Skip count by 5s up to 50 - Skip count by 10s up to 100 - Use skip counting to count groups of objects quickly

What Is Skip Counting?

Skip counting means jumping over numbers in a steady pattern instead of counting one by one. Instead of saying '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,' skip counting by 2s means saying '2, 4, 6.' You are still counting the same objects, but you land on fewer numbers along the way, which makes counting large groups much faster.

Counting by 2s: Perfect for Pairs

Lots of things in the world come in pairs. Every person has 2 shoes, 2 eyes, and 2 mittens. If you line up 5 people's shoes, you don't need to count '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.' You can count '2, 4, 6, 8, 10' -- one jump for every pair of shoes.

Counting by 5s: Perfect for Fingers

Each hand has 5 fingers, which makes counting by 5s perfect for counting hands. Hold up one hand: that's 5. Two hands: 10. If three friends each hold up one hand, you can count '5, 10, 15' instead of counting every single finger one at a time.

Counting by 10s: The Fastest Way

Ten is one of the easiest numbers to skip count by, because our whole number system is built around groups of ten. If you count both hands of 5 different people, that's 10 fingers per person: '10, 20, 30, 40, 50.' Coins called dimes are also worth 10 cents each, so counting a pile of dimes uses the exact same pattern.

A Trick for Skip Counting by 10s

Notice that when you skip count by 10s, the number in the ones place always stays a zero, and the tens digit just goes up by one each time: 10, 20, 30, 40... That pattern makes counting by 10s the easiest skip counting of all!

Match the counting pattern to what it's good for counting

Terms

Count by 2s

Count by 5s

Count by 10s

Definitions

Counting fingers on one hand, since each hand has 5

Counting fingers on both hands together, or counting dimes

Counting shoes, since everyone has 2 feet

Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.

❓

If you skip count by 2s starting at 0, what number comes right after 8?

❓

Four friends each hold up one whole hand of fingers. What is the fastest way to count how many fingers that is in total?

🎯

Skip Counting Scavenger Hunt

With a grown-up, find 10 pairs of shoes in your home (20 shoes total) and skip count by 2s out loud as you point to each one. Then find something you can group into 5s, like fingers or crayons in bundles of 5, and skip count by 5s. Finally, if you have dimes or can draw 10 dot-groups, skip count by 10s up to 100. Draw a picture of one thing you counted and write the numbers you said.

Want to keep learning?

Start Learning Free