Number line 1 to 20
A number line to 20 is the counting tool for the teen numbers: every mark from 0 to 20 is labelled, so a child can hop along it to add, hop back to subtract, and see that 14 sits four hops past 10. Four lines to a page.
Free printable PDF, Kindergarten to 1st grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: Four lines 0 to 20.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
Why 20
Kindergarten counts to 20 by ones and 1st grade adds and subtracts within 20, so a line that stops at 20 is the whole working range for two years. Every mark is labelled at this size; a line to 100 can only label the tens, which is a later idea. The four copies are for four problems, or one line a day.
The mark at 10 stands out a little, so a child can see the teens as "ten and some more" without counting from zero each time.
Using it
Put a finger on the first number and hop forward to add, hop back to subtract, saying each hop aloud. Write the sum under the line. For missing-number practice, cover three or four labels with a pencil dot and have the child say what is hidden. The blank number line page prints the same lines with only the ends labelled, for the child to fill in.
Common questions
- Should the line start at 0 or 1?
- At 0. Subtraction lands there, and a child who starts counting from the first mark needs the first mark to be zero.
- What about a number line to 100?
- It is on the number line page, labelled by fives or tens, for 2nd grade and up.