Number 18 Tracing Worksheet (Eighteen)

How to write 18

Make the 1. Then draw the 8 in one go: start just below the top on the right, curve left and over to make the small top loop, cross in the middle and make a bigger bottom loop, finishing back at the middle. Keep the pencil on the paper all the way.

Ten and eight

Eighteen is just two away from twenty. Fill the left frame with ten counters and the right with eight, then point to the two empty squares. Children start to see eighteen as nearly a second full ten.

What to watch for

Some children draw the 8 as two stacked circles. That is fine at first, but the one-stroke figure-of-eight is faster and joins better later. Tracing the dashes on this page models the single stroke.

Counting idea for eighteen

Use a muffin tray with twelve cups, or two egg boxes, and drop in eighteen small items. Count the first ten carefully, then count on: eleven, twelve… up to eighteen. Counting on is a big step towards adding.

Game: Forest of eighteen

Stand eighteen toilet-roll tubes or paper cones on the floor as trees. Roll a soft ball to knock some down, then count how many are still standing and how many fell. Together they always make eighteen.

Where you see 18

Eighteen holes on a golf course, the age many people are considered adults, and the 18 on a calendar.

Practise next

Try number 17 and number 19, then check your counting on the free number charts.