How to play the ten frame game
A target number appears in a large box above the frame - the word "Make" and then, say, 7. Below it is an empty frame: one row of five cells, or two rows of five for a full ten frame. Tapping an empty cell drops an orange counter into it. Tapping that counter again takes it back off. When the number of counters on the frame matches the target, the box turns green and a new target appears about a second later.
A line under the frame reads "On the frame: 4 / 7" so the child always has the two numbers side by side, and the target box itself changes colour: red once there are too many counters, green once it is right. Overshooting is not a mistake to be punished, it is something to notice and undo, which is exactly the conversation you want to be having.
Controls
- Touchscreen or mouse: tap or click an empty cell to add a counter, tap the counter to remove it. There is no dragging anywhere in the game.
- Menu button: the chip at the top left returns to the settings screen at any time.
- Read the numbers aloud: an optional toggle on the menu. With it on, a completed frame reads the number out and follows it with a short piece of praise.
Two modes: making and partitioning
The Mode setting is the one that changes what the child is actually thinking about.
- Make the number: the frame starts empty and the child builds the target from nothing. This is cardinality and one-to-one correspondence - one tap, one counter, one number.
- Finish to 10: some cells arrive already filled with locked grey counters that cannot be removed. The child adds only the missing part. This is where composition of number lives: the whole is on the wall in front of them, one part is visible, and they have to supply the other.
Choosing Finish to 10 automatically switches to the full ten frame, since the bonds being practised are bonds within ten. Choosing the five frame switches back to Make the number.
The starting settings follow the working level set for the session: KS1 opens on the five frame in make-the-number mode, Lower KS2 on the ten frame in the same mode, and Upper KS2 on the ten frame in Finish to 10. The guide's Finish to 10 activity link instead selects that task on a full ten-frame. Every setting can still be changed on the menu.
Stickers
Each completed number counts towards four cumulative stickers that carry across sessions: Frame Starter on the first number made, Number Builder at ten, Frame Pro at thirty and Ten-Frame Master at a hundred. They land in the same sticker book as every other game on the site.
Why a ten frame rather than counters on a table
A ten frame is a fixed structure, and that is the whole point of it. Because the cells never move, seven always looks like a full row of five plus two, and eight always looks like a full row plus three. After enough repetitions a child stops counting the counters and starts reading the shape, which is the same jump that Numicon shapes and dice faces are designed to produce.
The empty cells do just as much work as the full ones. A child looking at six counters on a ten frame can see four gaps without counting them, and that is the moment bonds to ten stop being a list to memorise and start being something visible.
Who Ten-Frame Fill is for
It suits Reception and Year 1 children working on numbers to ten, and older children with SEND who need the same content without babyish presentation or a timer. Nothing in it can be failed, nothing runs out, and a session can be stopped mid-number with nothing lost, which matters when attention is short.
Because it needs only tapping, it works for children whose fine motor control makes dragging counters frustrating, and it is large enough to use over a screen share or on a classroom whiteboard where a tutor is pointing at the frame rather than holding the device.
Questions parents and tutors ask
Do you drag the counters?
No. Tap an empty cell to add a counter and tap the counter to remove it. Dragging is what most interactive ten frames get wrong for children with motor difficulties.
Can a child get it wrong?
There is no wrong-answer screen. Too many counters turns the target red until the extras are tapped off, and the round only moves on when the frame matches.
Is it free?
Yes. It is free to play in your browser, with no signup, no download and no in-game purchases. Built by a UK SEND tutor with QTS.