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Skills / Ages 5 to 8 / Math

Show nine on the ten-hole box

Showing nine on the box of ten holes as a full top row and four more underneath, an almost full box with exactly one empty hole, and matching it to the mark 9.

Why it matters

Nine is one hole short of a full box. A child who sees that single empty hole already knows one more bean will make ten. Filling that last hole is the very next step, and the whole idea of one more grows from it.

What it looks like when your child can do it

  • Shown an almost full box, your child points to the single empty hole and says nine.
  • Your child builds nine as a full top row and four beans below, leaving the last hole on the right empty.
  • Asked what one more bean would do, your child says it would fill the box and make ten.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

  1. 01

    Build it as five and four

    Fill the top row and say five. Add four beans across the bottom row from the left. Five and four more is nine.

  2. 02

    Point to the one empty hole

    The book calls it the vacant hole. Have your child put a finger on it. One empty hole left always means nine.

  3. 03

    Play hide the hole

    Cover the empty hole with your thumb and ask how many beans there are. Lift your thumb and ask how many holes are empty. Nine beans, one empty hole.

  4. 04

    Stop before the box fills

    Name the empty hole as the one that would make ten, but leave it empty today. Nine is its own number with its own mark, 9.

You will need: A dozen-egg carton cut down to two rows of five cups · Ten dried beans or buttons · Small counters like beans, buttons and pennies can choke a child, so stay at the table while they are out and put them away from younger children · A card with a big 9 on it

Try it together

  1. Try 1

    Build nine. Ask how many holes are empty.

    Listen for  One. This should come quickly, without counting.

  2. Try 2

    Build eight. Hand your child one bean and ask them to make nine.

    Listen for  The bean goes in the fourth hole of the bottom row, leaving only the last hole on the right empty.

  3. Try 3

    Build nine and ask how many beans are in the bottom row.

    Listen for  Four. Five on top and four below make nine.

  4. Try 4

    Build nine and ask what would happen if one more bean went in.

    Listen for  Every hole would be filled, and a full box is ten.

  5. Try 5

    Fill the box but leave one hole in the top row empty instead. Ask how many beans.

    Listen for  Still nine. One empty hole means nine wherever it is, even though the book always fills the top row first.

Watch for

  • Counting all nine beans from one every time. Cover the top row, say five, then count on: six, seven, eight, nine.

If it is not there yet

  • Go back to eight and its two empty holes. Practice looking at the empty holes first, then saying the number.
  • Build eight and nine side by side and ask which box has one empty hole and which has two.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

  • Zig and Zag Count to Twenty · Lesson 13

    Ten Fills the Box

    Needs it because ten is the last hole. The child has been walking up the box one hole at a time.