Counting to 20

Every number from 11 to 19 is one ten and some ones: 14 is 10 and 4 more. Seeing this is a kindergarten goal, and it is the first step toward understanding tens and ones.

Their names do not sound like ten and one or ten and two, so children cannot hear the ten in them. From thirteen on, the teen at the end is a hint that there is a ten inside.

The 1 stands for one full ten and the 6 for six more. In the word sixteen you hear the six first, so some children write 61. That is a common mistake and it fades with practice.

A ten frame is a box with two rows of five spaces. When it is full, there are ten, so children can see a ten without counting again. The game uses two frames to show numbers up to 20.

Counting on means starting from a number you already know instead of from one. When the first frame shows ten, your child can say eleven, twelve, thirteen for the next counters.

In the United States, kindergarten standards ask children to count to 100 by ones and by tens. They also count up to 20 things and write the numbers from 0 to 20.

Twenty things in a line or neat rows are much easier to count than twenty in a jumble. The first row lights up when it is full, so your child sees that ten fit in one row.

One more is the next number when you count, and one less is the number just before. On the number line in the game, that is one stone forward or one stone back.

You skip every other number: two, four, six and on to twenty. The hedgehog jumps over a stone each time, so children see the pattern and hear it.

Yes. A long-term study found that young children who counted on their fingers did better at adding later, and children stop using their fingers on their own when they no longer need them. Ten fingers and a few toes make a fine teen number.

Count stairs, steps or cars, and keep going past ten. Show ten with both hands, then add toes or objects to make teen numbers, saying "ten and three makes thirteen".