Ten Frame Matching Cards Activity

These printable ten frame cards will provide your young learner with practice matching the numbers from 1 to 10 with their 10 frame representations. This activity provides a fun hands-on way to help students build a strong number sense. 

Why I Created These Printable 10 Frame Cards 

As a high school math teacher, I have found it very interesting watching my oldest son progress from learning to count to recognizing numbers to moving on to performing operations with numbers and writing number sentences. 

Along the way, I have created numerous resources to use with him at home, and I am sharing them here on my blog with the hopes that elementary teachers will be able to use them in their classrooms with their own little learners. 

I created this deck of 10 frame matching cards for my son when he was first learning to count. We did lots of practice where I would draw a number of dots on a blank ten frame, and he would have to figure out which number I had represented. Then, we would switch things up and I would give him a number for which he would have to draw the ten frame. My free printable ten frame templates came in super handy for this! 

Not only did this tens frame matching activity help my kiddo practice matching numerals with 10 frames, but it also gave him practice ordering the numbers from 1 to 10. 

These ten frame cards were created to allow him to practice these key concepts a bit more independently so I could get important things done like getting dinner on the table. I had already created a set of free ten frame clipart, so I was able to use the clipart to easily make this resource as well as some other ten frame resources linked below. 

What is a Ten Frame? 

The ten frame is a visual tool used in early childhood education to help students learn to recognize the numbers from 1 to 10. It looks like a blank grid with ten slots that are arranged in two rows of five slots. 

10 frames are used to teach basic math concepts such as counting, one-to-one correspondence, addition, and place value. Ten frame cards offer an easy way to help students begin practicing subitizing. 

Printing and Prepping the 10 Frame Cards 

I printed my ten frame cards on card stock to make them a bit more durable. I highly suggest laminating any resources that you plan on using with young children so that they last from year to year. Since I was only using these with my own son, I did not laminate them. 

But I do laminate all of the activities that I make for my own high school math classroom. 

If you would prefer that the number cards were printed on a different color of paper than the ten-frame cards, I also have a suggestion for this. You can print two sets of the cards on different colored paper. Then when you create sets of cards for students to work with, use one color of 10s frame cards and a different color of number cards. 

10 Frame Flash Cards

Wish these were ten frames flash cards instead? Here’s a teacher hack to turn them into ten frame flashcards. 

​When you cut out the ten frame cards, leave the one ten frame card connected to the one number word card. Leave the two ten frame card connected to the two number word card. Then, you can fold the card in half which will leave the ten frame representation on one side and the numeral and number word on the opposite side. 

Presto! You now have flash cards! Glue the two sides together and run the flash cards through the laminator. 

Storing the Ten Frame Cards 

If you have a lot of card sort or math centers activities like this in your classroom, I suggest investing in a set of photo cases. Since the plastic cases are translucent, you can easily see what is inside each case. And, the smaller cases fit inside a larger case which makes them easy to store in your classroom. 

Printable Empty Frames

These empty frames can be printed and placed in a dry erase pocket or sheet protector to make them reusable with dry erase markers. Or skip the dry erase markers and give students a handful of mini erasers to use to represent the numbers from 1 to 10 on the ten frame. You also might have two-colored counters in your math manipulatives closet that can be used on the ten frame. 

There are so many early number skills that can be taught using tens frames and other empty printable frames. Younger learners might benefit from the smaller five frame while older learners need the double 10 frame to work with larger numbers. 

• Blank 10 Frame Template 
• Blank 5 Frame Template
• Blank Double 10 Frame Template 

These blank frames can easily be projected on interactive whiteboards to help illustrate how to represent different numbers of items. 

Even More Tens Frames Printables 

I used my ten frame clipart to create a ten frame matching worksheet. This worksheet requires students to match the numbers from 1 to 10 with the ten frame representations of each number.