Tally Mark and Number 1 to 10 Activity

Are you looking for an engaging mathematics activity to introduce your little one to tally charts and to help them practice their counting skills from one to ten? Then look no further than our free printable Tally Mark and Number 1 to 10 Activity sheet.

Tally marks are one of the first data collection methods that children learn in school, so it’s ideal to introduce your child to them at an early age and in a fun and enjoyable way.  

Tally charts are a simple way of counting the amount of something and recording the data using tally marks. Each tally mark represents one item and is drawn vertically. When five items are recorded, a diagonal line is drawn through the marks so that the tally marks can be counted in simple groups of five.

 

Interesting Fact: Did you know that the earliest record of tally marks is from 30,000 BC and was found on the leg bone of a baboon?

Our Tally Mark and Number 1 to 10 Activity sheet features an adorable bear who needs your child’s help! This cute teddy is accident-prone and needs someone to stick the correct plasters over his cuts and grazes. Your little one needs to find the right plaster for each cut by counting the number of tally marks. It’s a great activity for teaching children that numeric symbols (for example 6) are the same as six tally marks.

There are lots of benefits to introducing young children to tally marks, including:

  • Tally marks are a great hands-on mathematics activity. Kids love to get involved with collecting and recording information, and tally marks are a perfect way for them to do this.
  • Completing a chart using tally marks is quicker than writing out words, so children are less likely to get bored, but they’re still practicing their fine motor skills as they draw the lines for each tally mark.
  • Many children benefit from visual learning, and tally marks offer the perfect visual representation of data and information.
  • Tally marks are a fun and interactive way to reinforce basic numeracy skills, and are also a helpful way to introduce your little one to counting in fives. This lays the foundation for introducing more advanced math concepts such as subtraction.

Our Tally Mark Activity Contains

Our Tally Mark activity contains one A4 sheet with a picture of an adorable teddy bear, and a second sheet with some colorful stickers (and some heart-shaped ones too!), ready to make the poor teddy feel better!

To get started, click to download the activity sheets then print onto white paper using your home printer.

Carefully cut out the numbered stickers on the second sheet, ready to stick onto the teddy bear using a glue stick. Alternatively, you can print the second sheet onto printable sticker paper if you have some, cut out the stickers and they’ll be ready to use straight away.

To use our Tally Mark Activity:

  1. Ask your child to count the number of scratches in one area of the teddy bear’s fur using the tally marks.
  2. Find a plaster or sticker with the corresponding number, and stick it in the correct place on the teddy bear.
  3. Carry on until all of the teddy bear’s scratches and cuts have been covered.
tally mark worksheet
tally marks for preschool

Conclusion:

Tally marks are an important building block for children as they begin to learn new mathematics skills. Now you’ve introduced your child to the concept of tally marks, why not practice your child’s new knowledge on a bug walk? Write down a list of insects on one side of a piece of paper (ladybird, bee, spider etc.) then ask your child to make a mark each time they see one. Remember to bundle up groups of five for easy counting at the end of your survey!

If your little one has enjoyed our printable Tally Mark and Number 1 to 10 Activity sheet, why not try some of our other fun mathematics activities?  We have a vast range of engaging worksheets, posters and activities that make learning mathematics fun, such as our Free Printable Maths About Me Worksheets and Posters .

If you want to carry on learning more about tally marks with your child, you could try making this tally marks math tray from www.andnextcomesl.com.

It’s another fantastic hands-on activity for introducing younger kids to tally marks, and it’s easy to set up using basic craft materials such as wooden lolly sticks.

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