Kindergarten kids LOVE working on hands-on activities. I personally love to include as many clip cards and hands-on number sense activities as I can within the classroom and at home with my students. These FREE tally mark activities will sure to rev up your math stations!
Tally Mark Activities are particularly difficult for kindergarten kids to grasp, they generally will need some more practice on counting tally marks and becoming more familiar with the concept! Keep reading to get some tips on how you could introduce counting tally marks to your students, and pick up a super fun free printable at the end of the post!
>>> Pair this activity with our Bear Themed Hands-on Number Sense Activity Printable Bundle. <<<
Tally Mark Activities: Printable Number Cards 1 10
Counting games for kids are a great way to teach children about numbers and the world. They can learn to count in a fun and interactive way.
The best counting games for kids are ones that have simple rules and use objects that the child is familiar with such as animals, fruit, or household items.
Counting games are a great way for kids to learn how to count. Not only do they help with counting, but they also help with math skills.
More Printable Number Cards 1 10 you might like:
- Counting by 10s 100 Days School Balloon Cards Fine Motor
- Unicorn Counting Cards Teaching Number Sense FREE Printable Cards!
- The Cutest Bear FREE Printable Numbers Cards 1-20 and Games
There are many different ways that you can play counting games with your kids, and there are even some apps that can be downloaded to help make it easier.
These clip cards are so much fun for kids. Practice counting skills and number recognition with these cards.
This bear themed tally marks game is so versatile! It can be used for small groups, independent work, and it also makes a fun, fun addition to your math centers! Pick up this freebie at the end of this post!
Students clip the hearts with the tally marks and the ten frames that match the number digit in the middle with pegs.
Teaching tally marks
Check out this simple lesson on how to tally up counting sets by Early Math Counts. In this lesson, children will organize and present tally sticks/marks to represent the number counted. There are several instructions on how you could set this up so that children are capable of understanding how to represent these numbers.
Teaching at the kindergarten level, kids are taught on how to count groups. This is a super beneficial way to identify a set of numbers.
The objective is that the child will understand that one mark is equal to one object in a set. Also children should be shown how to group tally marks into sets of 5 marks and then eventually count the sets of 5. The 5 marks will definitely confuse some children on how to count add it on the side to count it in with the number ‘5’. Check out how We Have Children outlined how to teach tally marks.
This is why children need to be shown the numbers and plenty of activities to help them recognise counting with tally marks.
Free Printable Tally Mark Worksheets
If you’re looking for set worksheets and printables to practice tally marks, I have a number of worksheets and activities you could use to add to your centers. Firstly, this bear themed set of clip cards are perfect for getting students to recognise numbers, tally marks and counting sets here is a list of my favourites.
Miss Giraffe actually used prezel sticks to show how to count with tally marks. Check out how she has done it on this post here.
The Stem Laboratory has some very simple and easy to prep printable tally mark cards you can use in your small group centers. Grab these from the post!
Grab your copy of the bear themed tally mark counting tally marks activities

How to use:
Print these cards and laminate them, have the kids use pegs to identify the matching tally marks and ten frames on the hearts. They clip the hearts with the numbers to match the number digit on the bear.
Download your copy below:
All materials provided are copyright protected. Please see Terms of Use.
Graphics Purchased and used with permission
I offer free printables to give to my readers AND to provide for my family. Your frequent visits to my blog & support purchasing through affiliates links and ads keep the lights on so to speak. Thanks to you!