Counting books, how can you go wrong with a counting book? They are interactive and educational. The math coach at the school where I teach gave me a list of books that she uses in her class and recommends for preschool to kindergarten age kids. Our math coach works with teachers to develop more hands-on lessons and she teaches a special lab that all students go to throughout the year. Below is a list of her must-read counting books for beginning and seasoned counters. Enjoy!
Books All About Counting
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Counting Books for Counting to Ten
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
Ten Black Dots is a great book for counting to ten, listening for rhymes and showing how circles can be used in so many different ways. After reading with your little one you can use dots of your own to count and create pictures.
One Wide River to Cross by Barbara Emberley
One Wide River to Cross is a classic Caldecott Honor book about Noah’s ark told through an African-American folk song. The rhyming text, beautiful illustrations and counting make this a great book for little ones.
How Many Snails? by Paul Giganti
How Many Snails is a book that is great for counting, observation, and classification. Each page shows different items that can be counted or grouped based on color or style. Readers can count all the items, a certain color or style or answer the questions that are listed on the page.
One Hunter by Pat Hutchins
One Hunter in the jungle does not see all the animals that are watching him. This is another book that is both a counting book and a look and find book. Readers can count the animals that are hiding and guess what animal will be on the next page.
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh
In Mouse Count, ten mice are collected by a snake for dinner. As the snake collects the sleeping mice, readers can count and as the mice try to escape, you can count backwards. This is a perfect book for little learners.
Counting Crocodiles by Judy Sierra
Counting Crocodiles is a rhyming tale of a clever monkey who tricks the crocodiles to reach a banana tree. Along the way she counts all the crocodiles that are each illustrated in a very unusual way.
Roar! by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Roar is a story of a young lion looking for a friend. As you read you can guess what animal will be next and talk about what animals live on the African plains.
One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
One Duck Stuck tells the story of a stuck duck who ask for help and has lots of animals come to his rescue. The story is told with rhyming alliterations and so many animal friends to count.
How Many Bugs in a Box? by David A. Carter
How Many Bugs in a Box? Well, you will have to read and count to find out. This book is a very interactive book that is fun for readers of all ages.
1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
1, 2, 3 to the Zoo is a classic Eric Carle book about a train, animals, and counting. A book can’t get any better for little readers! Each page features new animals that are joining the train. You can also go back and count all the animals on the train that are featured at the bottom of the page.
Quack and Count by Keith Baker
Dive into the lives of seven little ducklings as they get ready for their very first flight! With the use of rhyme and illustration, your kids will be introduced to counting in a fun and interactive way
Counting With – Contando Con Frida by Patty Rodriguez
Frida Kahlo is one of Mexico’s most iconic painters, and in this book she can also help teach your little ones numbers and counting.
Ten Little Night Stars by Deb Gruelle
This sweet counting bedtime story will have your children learning all the way until bedtime!
Stack The Cats by Susie Ghahremani
Enjoy this story as cats of all shapes and sizes and how they stack up together!
1 Big Salad by Juana Medina
This delicious counting book is a fun way to incorporate food and counting!
Counting Books for Counting Past Ten
Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno
Anno’s Counting Book is a combination of counting book, beautiful landscape illustrations and a search and find book. Each page shows a number between 1 and 12. Throughout the page you can find the same number of items as the number shown on the side of the page. This is a good book to use with little ones that are just beginning to count out objects.
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes
One Hundred Hungry Ants are on their way to a picnic when the littlest ant says they should walk by two’s. The group of ants continues to break in to different groups that equal 100. This book is great for kids that are learning about how to group higher numbers.
Two Ways to Count to Ten by Ruby Dee
Two Ways to Count to Ten is a Liberian folktale that explains how the leopard king chose the animal that would rule after he was gone. Each animal threw a spear into the air and tried to count to ten before the spear hit the group, all the animals failed but one. This is a great story for teaching how to count by 2’s. You can have your own contest after reading this one to see who can count to ten the fastest.
One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre
One is a Snail Ten is a Crab uses feet to count all the way to 100. This is a counting and adding book. Starting with one, each page shows how animals and humans or combinations of both equal different numbers. I like the setting of the beach and all the fun things that you see the animals doing, including sunbathing dogs.
1 to 20, Animals Aplenty by Katie Viggers
1 to 20, Animals Aplenty is a counting book that features animals like you have never seen them before; fox in socks and goats in coats. The rhyming text and simple illustrations are great for counting. Katie Viggers book Almost An Animal Alphabet was featured on our ABC Animal list.
Ocean Counting: Odd Numbers by Jerry Pallotta
Ocean Counting counts only by odd numbers starting with 1 to 50. Each number features beautiful illustration of an ocean creature and short description of the animal.
Underwater Counting: Even Numbers by Jerry Pallotta
Underwater Counting is similar to Ocean Counting but with even numbers.
Of course there are tons of counting books. Do you have a favorite that isn’t on this list? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Get a Full Year of Differentiated Math Games
Keep the learning fun with these printable math games! These games are super flexible and can be used for everything from math centers and small group math activities, to morning work time. This bundle contains 11 sets of roll and color math games, perfect for learning or practice from preschool to first grade!
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers
Tips and Activities for Teaching Kids to Count
Visit this post for more ideas for helping kids learn numbers and counting.
Math Activities
After you’re done reading, try one of these fun counting games.
More Resources for Little Book Lovers
The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.
Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.
Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.
Loretta McAllister
Good afternoon,
Thank you for the list of books, games, and activities about numbers. Please send me Information on where I can purchase the books?
Shaunna Evans
Hi Loretta, Each of the book titles is linked to the location where they may be purchased on Amazon.com. They may also be available at your local bookstores.