How To Draw Counters In Math

Drawn counters offer a visual manipulative for students when completing math problems. Allowing students to draw counters help them understand concepts they are struggling to comprehend. Students need not have artistic talent to make use of drawn counters during math class. If students are struggling with a concept, encourage them to draw counters for a visual idea of what is being presented.

Step 1

Draw shapes of any kind to represent the first number in a math problem. For example, if the student is drawing circles and the first number of the math problem is six, he would draw six small circles on his paper.

Step 2

Cross out shapes for a subtraction problem or draw more shapes for an addition problem. For example if the student drew six circles and the problem was six minus four he would then cross out four circles. If the problem was six plus three, the student would draw three more circles.

Step 3

Practice drawing counters for many different math problems. Drawn counters also work with word problems.