Counting is one of those activities that children and adults do intuitively. It’s a fun and easy skill that we can practice anywhere!  Though some counting books do not match the illustrations to the numbers, great ones show all forms of a number. This means the Roman numeral, the number word, and a corresponding number of items in the illustrations are all represented. Here are some of my personal favorites! Click the affiliate links below to get your own copies today!

Daddy Hugs

Written and Illustrated by Karen Katz

Age: Infant and Toddler

Count your way through everyday activities in this brightly colored board book. With each turn of the page, daddy hugs baby, starting with one hug and ending with ten. I love how the book features fathers in a caring and nurturing role. Dads are often seen in adventure style books with older children, and so it’s refreshing to see a book with dad caring for his infant and giving lots of loving hugs. This is a wonderful book for children under the age of 3.

Tandem Tip: On each page, the number is portrayed in three ways: a roman numeral, a word, and a heart. All children benefit from learning the different ways we represent numbers, so be sure to point to each format as you read the book. With older children, you can also ask them to point to the number one, the word one, or to help you count the number of hearts on each page.

Fish Eyes

Written and Illustrated by Louis Ehlert

Age: Infant and Toddler and Preschool

Fish Eyes comes both as a board book, great for little ones who are two years old and under, and as a paperback book, better for bigger kids two years or older. Its pages show brightly colored fish and simple descriptions like ‘three smiling fish’. There’s plenty to talk about beyond just the numbers- once you finish counting the fish on each page, start learning their colors!

Tandem Tip: In the corner of each number page is a small plain brown fish that teaches children addition, such as “4 striped fish plus me makes 5”. This is a great opportunity to introduce the word ‘addition’ and the concept of adding. You can also cover up a fish with your hand to practice subtraction.

One Leaf Rides the Wind

Written by Celeste Davidson Mannis

Illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung

Age: Preschool

One Leaf Rides the Wind features a young girl counting in a Japanese garden. It is a great counting book where the illustrations clearly correspond with the number. Also, the text for each page is written as a haiku. The main text and illustrations are enough to make this a great book. There are also a few sentences giving background knowledge about Japanese culture, such as the definition of Bonsai or the symbolism of the upturned roofs in a pagoda (you’ll have to read to find out!). One Leaf Rides the Wind is a wonderful book for both counting and learning about Japanese culture.

Tandem Tip: When reading with children, point to each illustration on the page as you count. This will help your child understand that each number corresponds to an item in the world. You can also compare the objects. Try to use superlatives that go beyond just ‘biggest or ‘smallest’ – ask which tree is ‘tallest’ or ‘widest’, or which lantern on the path is ‘closest’.