Building understanding

Counting individual objects (one-to-one correspondence)

Numeracy

﻿Hello, my name is Helen, and I'm your teacher. Today's lesson is lesson one of four in Building Understanding in Number Units. Today, we're going to be learning to count individual objects. For today's lesson, you will need objects to count that can be found in your house. I will use spoons, bananas, stones and bricks, but you could use any objects that you can find in your house. A number line, I will use a line drawn on a piece of paper with numerals, with the correct number of dots. You could also do this. Dried cereal for a sensory task. I will use corn flakes, but you could use anything that you can hide your objects underneath, like porridge oats or puffed rice. Now pause the video and go and get your resources ready. Now you know who I am and you have your resources ready. Let's have a look at what to expect from today's lesson. I will show you how we can count objects that are in different arrangements. So these may look a little bit different. You will then have the opportunity to complete some tasks where you will be counting objects in different arrangements. A counting activity will follow for you to complete to show the fantastic progress you have made during today's lesson. How many apples? One, two, three, four, five. Notice how each number uses a different numeral and number name. We're going to use these as we learn to count individual objects. Now let's try this using some real objects that I could find about my house. I'm going to use some real spoons, but you can use anything when you have a go. How many spoons have I got? This is quite difficult to count, isn't it? Let's put them in a line and make it easier. Count with me. One, two, three. Three spoons. Fantastic. Let's have another go with a different number. How many spoons have I got? It's still quite difficult to count. What do I need to do? You're right. Let's put them in a line. Count with me. One, two, three, four. Four spoons. Great. Let's try that again with a different number. How many spoons have I got? What do I need to do? You're right. Let's put them in a line. Count with me. One, two, three, four, five. Five spoons. Great job. Now you have a go. Scatter some objects in front of you. Place them in a line and count them. How many do you have? Pause the video to complete your task and once you've finished, click resume. This time, we're going to count our objects using the line of arrangement that we've already used, but I'm going to use a number line to guide us with our counting. I've chosen to use some rocks out of the garden, but you can use anything that you can find around your house. Count with me. One. Two. Where's this one going to go? That's right. Three. Four. Five. How many rocks have I got? That's right, five. Well done. Let's try moving our objects as we count them. Count with me as we put the bananas away. One, two, three, four, five, five bananas. Fantastic. Now let's try that again using some real objects I found around the house. I'm going to use some real bananas and I'm going to move them as we count them and put them away in our fruit bowl. Count with me. One, two, three. Three bananas. Let's try that again with a different number. Notice I'm arranging them in a line because we know that makes it easier to count. Count with me. One, two, three four. Four bananas. Great job. Let's try that again with a different number. Count with me. One, two, three, four, five. Five bananas. Fantastic work. I'm going to do a sensory task this time to count our bricks. I'm using these bricks that I found in my house, but you can use anything that you've found in yours. In this bowl, I've got some corn flakes, and I'm going to count my bricks into the bowl and hide them under the corn flakes. Count with me One. Two. Three. Four. Five. They're all hidden. Now I'm going to try and find them underneath the corn flakes and count them. In order to count them, remember, we need to put them in a line 'cause it makes it easier. Count with me. One, two, three, four, five. Have I got them all? Yes, I have. Why don't you try the sensory counting task. Count five objects into a bowl of dried cereal and hide them with the cereal. Can you find all the objects you have hidden? Count them to make sure you found them all. Pause the video whilst you complete your task and click resume once you've finished. Are you ready for your counting activity? How many dots can you see? Three or four? That's right, three. Great. How many dots can you see? Four or five? Fantastic, it was five. How many dots can you see? One or two? Yes, it was two. Great work. You've done fantastic today. You've learned to count individual objects one at a time, even when they've been arranged differently. If you want to make this a bit easier, you could learn the number names to three. You could count objects to three and you can count as you tidy up using up to three objects. If you wanted to make it a little bit harder, try starting with more than five objects and counting up but stopping at five. If you want some different ideas of how to practise these skills, you could set the table, counting out how many forks or plates you need each time. You could go for a walk and count the trees as you walk past them. Or you could count up to five eggs into an egg tray. Wow, what a fantastic lesson. You've learned to count individual objects up to five. Next lesson, we'll be learning how to count out the correct number of objects when asked. Why don't you ask a parent or carer to share your work with Oak National Academy on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. And I'll see you next time. Bye.

Counting individual objects (one-to-one correspondence)

Counting individual objects (one-to-one correspondence)

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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