What is skip counting and how does it help with multiplication?

Skip counting is counting forward or backward in equal jumps instead of by ones: 2, 4, 6, 8 or 5, 10, 15, 20. It helps with multiplication because every number you land on is a product. Counting by 4s five times lands on 20, which is 5 × 4. Children usually start with 2s, 5s and 10s, then use the same idea for the 3s and 4s.

What grade learns skip counting?

Skip counting starts in kindergarten and is an explicit standard by grade 2 in US schools. The Common Core asks kindergartners to count to 100 by tens, and grade 2 students to skip-count by 5s, 10s and 100s within 1000. Counting by 3s and 4s usually follows in grades 2 and 3, as preparation for the times tables.

How do you skip count by 2s?

Skip counting by 2s means saying every second number: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and so on. The easiest start is a pile of socks sorted into pairs, touching one pair for each number you say. Every number in the count by 2s is even, and each one ends in 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8.

Is skip counting the same as multiplication?

Skip counting and multiplication give the same answers, but they are different methods. Skip counting reaches 5 × 4 by saying 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, while multiplication by recall knows 20 at once. Skip counting is how children first understand what a product means, and recall is the goal by the end of grade 3.

What is the pattern when you skip count by 3s?

The pattern when you skip count by 3s is 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, alternating odd and even numbers. On a hundred chart, the multiples of 3 form diagonal stripes that slope down to the left. The digits of every multiple of 3 also add up to a multiple of 3, as in 27, where 2 + 7 = 9.

Skip Counting Explained: From 2s to Times Tables

Your second grader is lining up shoes by the door and counting them out loud: "two, four, six, eight." That is skip counting, and the homework sheet with the hundred chart and the colored-in squares is the same skill on paper. Skip counting by 2, by 5 and by 10 is the first step toward the times tables, and a few household objects make it easy to practice.

What is skip counting?

Skip counting is counting in equal jumps instead of one number at a time. Counting by 2s says 2, 4, 6, 8; counting by 5s says 5, 10, 15, 20; counting by 10s says 10, 20, 30, 40. The size of the jump stays the same, and only the starting point and the direction can change.

Skip counting by 10s comes first in US classrooms. The Common Core asks kindergartners to count to 100 by ones and by tens (K.CC.A.1), and grade 2 sets the formal target: count within 1000 and skip-count by 5s, 10s and 100s (2.NBT.A.2). Counting by 2s appears in the same grade, where children decide whether a group of objects is odd or even "by pairing objects or counting them by 2s" (2.OA.C.3).

England's national curriculum for mathematics runs the same ladder a little faster. Year 1 counts in multiples of twos, fives and tens, Year 2 adds steps of 3, Year 3 adds 4, 8, 50 and 100, and Year 4 adds 6, 7, 9, 25 and 1000.

Skip counting on a hundred chart

A hundred chart turns skip counting into a picture, because each count makes its own pattern. Shade every number you say when counting by 3s and diagonal stripes appear, sloping down to the left: 3, 12, 21 is one stripe, and 30, 39, 48 starts the next.

The other counts make simpler shapes. The 10s fill the last column, the 5s fill two columns ending in 5 and 0, and the 2s fill every other column. The 9s run down one diagonal from 9 to 81, and then 90 and 99 finish the count.

A hundred chart of the numbers 1 to 100 with every multiple of 3 shaded, forming diagonal stripes from 3 to 99.

How to teach skip counting at home, step by step

Skip counting sticks fastest when your child touches something for every number said. Socks, coins and beads all work, and five minutes at the kitchen table is enough for a session.

Start with pairs of socks. Sort a laundry basket into pairs and touch one pair for each number: 2, 4, 6, 8. Six pairs make 12 socks, and your child can check by counting every sock one at a time.
Move to hands and nickels for the 5s. Put hands flat on the table and count fingers by 5s: 5, 10, 15, 20. Then swap the hands for nickels, which are worth 5 cents each, so four nickels make 20 cents.
Use dimes or bundles for the 10s. Dimes count 10, 20, 30, and so do bundles of ten straws held with a rubber band. Grade 2 money problems in the Common Core use exactly these coins (2.MD.C.8).
Say the count without the objects. Once the count is steady with things on the table, say it with the objects out of sight. A child who stalls at the same number each time needs another week with the objects.
Shade the count on a hundred chart. Color the 2s, then the 5s on a fresh chart, and ask what pattern appears. Finding the columns is a reason to look at the numbers instead of chanting them.
Start from a number other than zero. Count by 10s from 7: 7, 17, 27, 37, 47. The ones digit stays 7, which is a place value lesson in disguise.
Count backward. Count down by 5s from 50 to 0, or by 10s from 93 to 3. Backward counting is the start of subtraction in equal steps, and later of division.

Play free in your browserMultiples RushGrade 3–5

The step most parents rush

Step 4 is the one that gets rushed, and rushing it turns skip counting into a song. A child can recite "5, 10, 15, 20" with no idea that each word stands for one more hand or one more nickel.

Keep the objects in play until your child can answer "How many fingers on four hands?" by counting 5, 10, 15, 20 and stopping at the right place. Stopping at the fourth number is the whole skill, and it is the same move as multiplication. A round of multiples practice asks the same question in reverse: is 35 one of the numbers you say when counting by 5s?

Skip counting by 2, 5, 10, 3 and the rest

Skip counting by 2, 5, 10, 3 or 9 gives each count its own hundred chart pattern, its own household objects and its own job later in school. The counts are not equally useful, and the bigger ones are better learned another way.

Count by	Pattern on a hundred chart	Real objects	Typical US grade	What it unlocks
2s	Every other column, ending in 2, 4, 6, 8, 0	Pairs of socks, shoes, mittens	K to 2	Odd and even, doubles, the 2s table
5s	Two columns, ending in 5 and 0	Fingers on a hand, nickels	2	Money, minutes on a clock face, the 5s table
10s	The last column, every number ending in 0	Dimes, bundles of ten straws	K to 2	Place value, adding 10 in your head, the 10s table
3s and 4s	3s: diagonals down to the left; 4s: columns that switch every row	Tricycle wheels, legs on a chair	2 to 3	The 3s and 4s tables
6s to 9s	6s: every other 3; 9s: a diagonal from 9 to 81, then 90 and 99	Half-dozen egg boxes, days in a week, spider legs	3	Better learned as facts than counted

Which order schools use

US schools teach the 10s first, then the 2s and 5s, and only then the 3s and 4s. The 10s and 5s line up with place value and money, which children already handle between kindergarten and grade 2.

The same order carries straight into the times tables. The order for learning the times tables runs 2, 10, 5, 4, 3, 9, 6, 8, 7, so a child who skip counts by 2, 5 and 10 already holds the first three tables.

How skip counting leads to multiplication

Skip counting leads to multiplication because the number of jumps is the number of groups. Counting by 4s five times lands on 20, and 5 groups of 4 make 20, so 5 × 4 = 20.

The Common Core makes the link in two steps. Grade 2 asks children to find the total of a rectangular array with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns and write it as a sum of equal addends (2.OA.C.4), so 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 20. Grade 3 then interprets 5 × 7 as "the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each" (3.OA.A.1).

A number line from 0 to 20 with five jumps of 4 landing on 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20, next to an array of 5 rows of 4 dots and the equation 5 × 4 = 20.

Skip counting also explains a pattern children are asked to spot in grade 3: 4 times a number is always even (3.OA.D.9). Counting by 4s on the hundred chart never lands in an odd-numbered column, because each jump of 4 is two jumps of 2.

Where skip counting stops being enough

Skip counting stops being enough around the 6s, 7s and 8s, because the count grows too long. Finding 7 × 8 by counting means saying 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56 and keeping track of eight jumps, and one slip ruins the answer.

The Common Core sets the finish line: by the end of grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers (3.OA.C.7). A multiplication tables game is where counted facts turn into recalled ones, and the doubling shortcuts in mental math tricks that work cover the gap while that happens.

Play free in your browserTimes TablesGrade 3+

How to tell your child is ready to move on

Four signals show whether skip counting is secure and when the times tables should take over. None of them needs a written test.

Fixed stopping point. Ask "What is the 6th number when you count by 5s?" A secure child counts 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and stops at 30 without overshooting.
Any starting number. Ask for a count by 10s from 34. The answer 34, 44, 54, 64 should come as smoothly as 10, 20, 30.
Backward as well as forward. Count down by 2s from 20. A child who manages forward but stalls backward has learned a chant more than a pattern.
Smooth 2s, 5s and 10s. Count by 5s to 50 with no pauses and no restarts. Once that holds, start the 3s and 4s.

The What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics recommends about 10 minutes of each intervention session on building fluent retrieval of basic arithmetic facts. Short daily sessions suit skip counting in the same way.

A two-minute check at the kitchen table

Hand your child 30 pennies and ask for the total, without saying how to count. A child who pushes them into groups of 5 or 10 and counts the groups is using skip counting as a tool. A child who counts every penny one by one has learned the chant without the purpose.

Common skip counting mistakes

Most skip counting problems come from how the practice is run. Four mistakes show up again and again.

Always starting at zero. A child who can only count 10, 20, 30 is stuck when a problem starts at 26. The Common Core asks first graders to count to 120 starting at any number below 120 (1.NBT.A.1), so mix in starts like 3, 26 and 41 early.
Chanting without objects. A recited count sounds good and proves little. Keep socks, nickels or a hundred chart on the table until your child can stop at the right number without them.
Counting the 7s forever. Counting by 7s to answer 7 × 6 works, but it stays slow and error-prone. Once the 2s, 5s and 10s are steady, switch the bigger tables to recall practice.
Losing the link to equal groups. Counting 4, 8, 12 becomes multiplication only when your child sees three groups of 4. Point to the groups each time, or draw the array.

Counting backward and past 100

Counting backward is the edge case most children find hard, because each step needs a subtraction. Practice it from friendly starting points first: 50 by 5s, 100 by 10s, 20 by 2s.

Counting past 100 is the other hard spot. Children often say "90, 100, 200" when counting by 10s, which skips 110 to 190.

Counting dimes past a dollar, or bundles of ten straws next to one big bundle of a hundred, shows why 110 comes next. The number bonds that make 10 help with the backward counts too, because 10 − 3 = 7 is the same move as 37 − 3 = 34.

Your skip counting checklist and next steps

A short checklist keeps the practice on track from the first pair of socks to the first times table.

Objects first. Socks for the 2s, hands and nickels for the 5s, dimes for the 10s.
One hundred chart per count. Shade it, then name the pattern out loud.
Different starts every session. Zero, then 7, then 26.
Backward every session. One forward count, one backward count.
Stop at the right number. "Count by 4s, five times" is the question that turns into 5 × 4.
Facts from the 6s on. Counting is the bridge, and recall is the destination.

The multiplication worksheet for 2nd graders has 30 printable times-table problems up to 10 with an answer key, and a math game for 2nd graders keeps the routine going on busy days. The MathIt app adds daily practice with adaptive difficulty, so the counts get harder only as fast as your child's answers allow.