Which numbers can children count by?

2s, 3s, 5s and 10s, or Mixed for a different step on every row.

Do the patterns always start at zero?

No. They start at different multiples, so children have to find the step from the numbers they can see.

Why practise skip counting?

It is the start of multiplication: counting by 5s is the 5 times table.

Is counting in 3s a Year 2 skill?

In the refreshed curriculum, 2s, 5s and 10s are the Year 2 steps, and 3s arrive in Year 3 with 4s and 8s. Choose one step at a time for younger children and keep Mixed for Year 3.

Skip Counting Worksheets: Count by 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s

From counting to times tables

Skip counting builds the patterns children later need for multiplication and division. When it is fluent, move on to the multiplication worksheets.

In the New Zealand Curriculum

Year 1Counting forwards and backwards in 1s, 2s and 10s, first to 20 and then to 100.
Year 2Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s from any number up to 120, and using it to multiply, with 4 × 5 seen as four groups of five.
Year 3Counting in 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 8s, 10s and 100s, alongside the matching times tables.

Because these patterns start partway through, they suit the Year 2 goal of counting on from any number rather than always from zero. Counting backwards is expected too, so have children read a finished row from right to left. Count real 10c coins by tens for the 10s rows.

Children also count to 30 in te reo Māori in Year 1, and use te reo for numbers to 100 in Year 2. The sheets print numerals, so the same row can be counted aloud in either language: rua, whā, ono, waru for counting in 2s.

Summarised in our own words from the New Zealand Curriculum: Mathematics and Statistics, Years 0–8 (in effect from 2025), and the Ministry of Education’s year-by-year guide for parents and whānau.