Free Count and Color the Circles Worksheets 1-5 for Preschool

These free printable counting worksheets ask a child to count a group of pictures and then color in that many circles. There are 10 pages with three rows on each, covering the numbers 1 to 5, and every row gives 5 circles to color from.

The pictures are scattered along the row rather than lined up neatly, and that is the point. When objects sit in a tidy row of five a child can learn the shape of the group and answer without counting. Spread them out unevenly and the shortcut disappears: the only way to get the answer is to touch each picture once and keep track. These pages are a check on counting itself, not on pattern recognition.

Table of contents

What Is in This Free Worksheet Pack
Why the Circles Matter More Than a Written Answer
The 10 Worksheets
When Children Are Ready for These Worksheets
How to Use These Worksheets
Three Things to Watch For
Printing Tips
Frequently Asked Questions
More Free Counting Worksheets

What Is in This Free Worksheet Pack

10 printable worksheets, three counting rows on each page.
Numbers 1 to 5, in a different order on every page so nothing can be predicted.
Pictures spaced irregularly, so a child has to count rather than recognise a pattern.
5 circles beside every row to color in.
A name and date line at the top, ready for classroom use.
A separate PDF for every page – no sign-up, no email address, no cost.

Why the Circles Matter More Than a Written Answer

Writing a numeral in a box hides mistakes. A child who writes 7 when there are eight pictures has left nothing behind that shows the error, and an adult has to recount the row to find it.

Coloring circles leaves the answer sitting on the page in a form the child can compare directly against the pictures. It also separates two skills that get tangled together at this age: knowing how many there are, and being able to write the numeral for it. A child who cannot yet form an 8 can still prove that they know what eight means.

The 10 Worksheets

One page is a complete session for most four and five year olds. There is no need to work through them in order.

When Children Are Ready for These Worksheets

These pages suit children from about three and a half to five years old. A child only needs to be able to say the number words in order; the worksheets teach the rest. This is usually the first counting pack a child can finish without an adult sitting beside them the whole time.

In American classrooms this is kindergarten counting work: counting objects to say how many there are, and understanding that the last number counted gives the total (Common Core K.CC.B.4 and K.CC.B.5). Nothing has to be written, so the pages suit children who are still learning to hold a pencil.

How to Use These Worksheets

Print one page on ordinary paper.
Ask your child to count the pictures out loud, touching each one as they go.
Before the crayon comes out, ask “so how many circles?” The answer should come without recounting.
Color the circles from the left, one for each picture.
Look at the finished rows together and ask which row had the most.

Three Things to Watch For

Counting a scattered picture twice

This is the mistake these pages are designed to expose. Because the pictures are unevenly spaced, a child who is not tracking carefully will double back. Ask them to cross each picture out with a pencil as it is counted.

Coloring circles at random

Coloring the right number but scattering them across the row is not wrong, but filling from the left makes it possible to compare rows afterwards, and comparing is where the next piece of learning is.

Answering by the length of the row

Some children judge by how far along the row the last picture sits. Two rows on these pages are deliberately similar in width but different in count, so this shows up quickly.

Printing Tips

Choose Actual size or Fit to page so the circles stay big enough for crayons.
Each page fills one sheet and works on both US Letter and A4 paper.
Printing in greyscale saves ink, though the pictures are easier to tell apart in color.
Slip a page into a plastic wallet and use a dry-wipe pen to reuse it with more than one child.