How to Teach Kids to Write Numbers: Which Order to Use

In Japan, the national Course of Study for elementary schools (2017) lists, for first-grade mathematics, “counting and representing the number and order of things correctly”. Writing digits to show a number is something children learn once they start school, at about six.

For the years before school, Japan’s kindergarten curriculum asks for something gentler: that children “take an interest in quantities and shapes in daily life”. What matters before school is being curious about numbers, not being able to write them. Still, some children point at the calendar or the clock and ask, “How do you write that?” In this post I write about when a young child can start writing numbers, the order I would teach them in, and the digits that tend to cause trouble.

Before writing: counting and drawing lines

I think writing numbers rests on two separate abilities. One is understanding what numbers mean. The other is being able to draw a line in the direction you intend.

The meaning of numbers grows through counting, before writing. A child who can say “one, two, three” does not yet understand number straight away. In a 1990 study by the psychologist Karen Wynn, children of two and three could recite the counting words, but being able to hand over exactly three things when asked for three came later.

So I think writing digits and counting games can go along separately. Being able to write the shape “3” and knowing that three things are “3” are not steps where one has to finish before the other. They grow side by side.

I wrote about the line-drawing side in Pre-Writing Strokes. If a child can comfortably draw straight lines, circles and curves, they are ready to write numbers. Pencil grip is covered in How to Teach Pencil Grip.

When to start

There is no fixed age, but I think it is fine to start when you see signs like these.

• The child can draw a circle or a vertical line at roughly the size they meant
• The child shows interest in numbers, trying to read them or trace them with a finger
• The child can count to about ten

For many children that is around four or five. A three-year-old who is interested can start too, as a tracing game.

An order that starts with the easier digits

Digits run from 0 to 9, but that is not the order of difficulty. I think it works best to begin with the digits made of the simplest lines.

1. 1 and 0. 1 is a line from top to bottom, and 0 is a circle. Both are the lines from pre-writing practice as they are, so they make a good start. Start 0 at the top, go round to the left, and close it where you began.

2. 7 and 4. These are made of straight lines. 7 goes across, turns at the corner, and comes down at a slant. 4 has two strokes: one that slants down and then runs across, and a separate vertical line. It is practice in knowing where to lift the pencil.

3. 6 and 9. These combine a circle and a line. 6 curves down from the top and makes a small loop at the bottom. 9 starts with the loop and then drops a line down its right side. They look alike, so it helps to put them side by side and show the difference.

4. 2, 3 and 5. These mix curves and sharp turns, and are a little harder.

5. 8. I would keep this one for last.

The order is not strict. Some children want to start with their own age or a favourite number. In that case I think it is fine to start there. The feeling of “I wrote it” matters more than the order.

Digits that cause trouble

2. It starts with the round top, comes down at a slant, and turns sharply into a line across the bottom. A curve, a diagonal and a horizontal line all sit in one stroke, so children often stop halfway. Writing it large at first, and allowing a pause at the turn, makes it easier.

5. In Japan it is normally written in two strokes: first down and round to the right, then the top bar. Children often want to start with the top bar, so check the stroke order together. Some countries teach a different order, so follow what your child’s school uses.

8. It starts at the top, crosses in the middle, and makes both loops in one stroke. Children easily lose track of where the lines should cross. One way to teach it is to allow two small circles stacked on top of each other at first. I think there is no hurry to move on to the one-stroke 8 until the shape is steady.

3 and 9. These are easily written backwards, as mirror writing. Research reports that left-facing digits such as 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 are the ones most often reversed. I covered mirror writing in Why Kids Write Letters Backwards.

How digits differ by country

Handwritten digits vary from place to place. According to the English Wikipedia article on regional handwriting variation, in continental Europe and elsewhere 7 is often written with a short bar through the middle, to tell it apart from a 1 written with a long upstroke. There are also 9s with a hook at the bottom and 4s with a closed top.

In Japan you often see a 7 that begins with a short vertical tick on the left. In families where an adult learned numbers in another country, the way a parent writes and the way the school teaches can differ. Neither is wrong, but to keep the child from getting confused, I think it is best to follow the forms in the school’s textbooks at home.

Practising at home

Write large. At first, write each digit about the size of the palm of a hand. Small boxes can wait until the shape is steady.

Mark the starting point. A small dot where the digit starts takes away the question of where to begin.

Put numbers and quantities together. After writing a 3, stick three stickers or draw three circles next to it. That links the shape of the digit to what it means.

Use the numbers in daily life. Calendar dates, clocks, lift buttons, house numbers. The numbers a child sees every day are the most familiar models. I wrote about clocks in How to Teach Kids to Tell Time.

Keep each session to a few minutes. One or two digits and then stop is plenty. There is no need to practise all of 0 to 9 at once.

What BrainDojo Kids does

BrainDojo Kids is an iPhone and iPad app for ages three to six. Numbers are practised in the First Numbers course (from 0 to 9).

In this course the digits come in groups: 1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6; 7, 8, 9; and 0, 1, 2, 3, followed by a review that brings together 5 to 9. Each group has three stages: Trace, Copy and Write. In Trace the child follows the model one stroke at a time. In Copy they write while watching a stroke-order animation. In Write they write in a box with no lines to trace. The first three stages, for 1, 2 and 3, are free.

In the app’s stroke order, 4, 5 and 7 have two strokes and the other digits have one. A written digit counts as correct when it can be read as that digit. Finishing First Numbers opens the First Math course, with addition and subtraction up to 20. The course is available whether the app is set to Japanese, English or Chinese.

The training games include ones such as Count Balls and Count Fingers, where the child counts balls or fingers and writes the number as the answer. That is the “numbers and quantities together” practice from this post. The three daily games in Today’s Training and the four Recommended games are free each day, and every other game can be tried once.

In the parent settings there is a daily time limit, on by default at 10 minutes. There are no ads and no account to create. The app is free to start, and a Premium subscription (monthly or yearly) opens all courses and games.

Getting Started with BrainDojo Kids covers the first session, and Practical Tips for Using BrainDojo Kids Every Day has ideas for keeping it going.