Free printable number chart 1 to 20 for kindergarten (PDF)

Number chart 1 to 20

A number chart from 1 to 20 shows the first twenty numbers in order, in rows of five, in type large enough for a young child to point to and trace with a finger. It is the chart for learning to count past ten.

Free printable PDF, preschool to 1st grade.

One page, black and white, prints the same every time.

Number chart 1 to 20, preschool to 1st grade: the printed sheet — Tap the sheet to print it. The picture follows the options you pick.

What is on the sheet

The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: 1 to 20.

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20

One page for every number

Each number from 1 to 20 also has its own page, with its strokes in words and a sheet of that one numeral to trace: 1 to 10 for preschool, 11 to 20 for kindergarten.

Why rows of five

Up to 30, the chart runs in rows of five, so each row is one hand and two rows are ten. A child who sees 13 as "a row of ten and three more" is already doing the teen-number work the kindergarten standard asks for. The 1 to 50 chart switches to rows of ten, the hundreds chart layout, because by then the tens are the pattern to see.

The cells are large on purpose. A four or five year old points, taps, counts aloud and sometimes writes over the number with a finger; small print gets in the way of all of that.

Using it with a young child

Count together, touching each cell. Cover a number with a coin and ask what is under it. Say a number and have the child find it, then say the number after it. Point to a number and ask which one comes before. When the child can do all of that to 20, print the 1 to 30 chart, and later the hundreds chart with the tens shaded.

For number writing rather than reading, the number tracing sheet in the kindergarten hub prints the same numbers with dotted outlines to trace.

Common questions

Which size does a kindergartener need?: The 1 to 20 chart for most of the year; the standard asks for counting to 100 by ones and tens by the end, which is when the hundreds chart takes over. Preschoolers start with 1 to 10.
Why does the chart start at 1 and not 0?: Counting starts at one. Zero is taught as "none" in a sentence rather than as the first cell of a chart, and adding it shifts every row by one.