How to Play

👀 First Count: Pick Your Band

Start by choosing a counting band from the control strip: 10, 20, 50, 100, or 1000. Each band changes what the board looks like: single shapes for the smallest band, clusters and tens for the middle bands, and full 5x10 or 10x10 grids for the largest band. When you’re ready, press Deal (or let the game auto-deal) to reveal your first field.

All the objects you see—whether they are singles, small clusters, or full hundreds grids—belong to the same total. Your job is to decide how you will count them before you touch an answer.

🔢 Count the Clusters, Not Just the Dots

Look for the structure in the field: are you seeing individual shapes, tiny groups of 2–5, clusters of 5 or 10, or blocks of ten and hundred? Use that structure to make counting easier:

When you have a number in mind, look at the four answer buttons under the board. Each one shows a possible total. Tap the one that matches your count.

✅ Try, Check, and Try Again

If you tap the correct total, the board gives a short celebration—such as a flash, sparkle, or bounce—and instantly deals a new field at the same band. Your streak and accuracy update so you can see how consistently you are getting it right. If you tap a wrong total, nothing scary happens. The board stays visible, the button gives a gentle “not quite” signal, and you get another chance to rethink your strategy. You might try:

• Grouping the objects differently (for example, into rows or clusters).
• Re-counting only a part of the field you are unsure about.
• Switching from one-by-one counting to skip-counting or vice versa.

Once you tap the correct answer, the round resolves normally and a new arrangement appears. You can play as many rounds as you like at the same band to build fluency.

🎛 Adjusting the Challenge

You can change the counting band at any time. Dropping back to a smaller band is perfect for warm-up or for younger learners just getting comfortable with counting. Stepping up to a higher band introduces new visual structures (tens, hundreds) without changing the core interaction.

Encourage players to say their strategy out loud: “I saw five groups of ten” or “I added two fives and then three more.” Talking through the method is part of the game.

Study Notes

🧠 Why Counting by Clusters Matters

Count Cluster is designed to move learners beyond pure one-by-one counting. At the earliest stage, children may need to touch and count each object. As they progress, the game gradually introduces more structure—small groups, fives, tens, and finally hundreds— so that learners start to see groups as units. This shift from “I count every dot” to “I count the groups” is central to number sense, mental math, and place-value understanding.

📊 Different Bands, One Continuous Progression

The counting bands align with common curriculum milestones:

• 1–10: One-to-one correspondence, stable order of number words, and small-number subitizing.
• 1–20: Grouping small sets, combining 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s, and making teen numbers.
• 1–50: Skip-counting by 5s and 10s, early decomposition strategies, and estimating with clusters.
• 1–100: Tens-based grouping, bridging to two-digit place value, and connecting tens to 100.
• 1–1000: Hundreds as 10×10, reading and composing three-digit numbers, and grounding future multiplication.

🗣 Using the Game

Count Cluster works well as a warm-up station, a quick assessment tool, or a small-group activity. Teachers can sit beside a learner and ask: “How did you get that number?” “Did you count every dot or count the groups?” “Could there be a faster way to see this total?” These questions turn each round into a short number talk.

The game can be played collaboratively by:

• Guessing the total before formally counting.
• Comparing strategies between child and adult.
• Switching roles so the child explains the method to the grown-up.

Because wrong answers are low-stakes and the board never “punishes” experimentation, learners are free to try new strategies, refine their mental pictures of number, and grow from exact counting toward efficient grouping and estimation. Count Cluster’s simple visuals and consistent loop make it a lightweight but powerful tool for building lasting number sense.