Inspiring to Inspire Maths

Preview

Subitising

Vocabulary

number

one, two, three ... six

how many

count to check

Hints and Tips

Subitising refers to immediately knowing how many items there are for small numbers.

Subitising is to have a quick and confident judgement; to know at a glance and without counting how many items are in a group.

For example, when a dice is thrown, the player, at a glance, immediately and accurately knows how many dots are showing on the face of the dice without counting. It is usually accepted that this can only be accurate in groups up to 6.

While playing dice games always encourage your child NOT to count the dots but to recognise the pattern.

Help your child to recognise the way the dots are arranged in these regular patterns.

Essential Prior Knowledge

Know that groups of objects can be associated with a number.

Activity

An excellent way of introducing subitising to your child, up to the number six with regular patterns, is by playing dominoes or board games with dice. This will expose your child to these patterns and he/she will come to recognise the number of spots without counting them. 
When your child is secure in the regular patterns provided by the dominoes and dice, you could introduce cards, perhaps made by your child from card and sticky dots, that have dots in an irregular pattern.

Subitising Game

What You Need 
6 small items, for example, sea shells. 
A tray 
A cloth big enough to cover the tray

Take it in turns with your child to, secretly, arrange the shells in a pattern on the tray. Cover it with the cloth before presenting it to your child. Remove the cloth for a few seconds then cover the tray again. 

The player, you or your child, must then say how many shells were on the tray. This can then be checked by counting.