Number 13 — thirteen. The 1 meets the double-curved 3, and thirteen balloons — five, five, and three — fill the count panel. Two tracing rows, one solo row, and the word thirteen traced at the bottom.
Thirteen keeps the straight 1 and adds the double-curved 3. Saying one, three while tracing keeps the teen pattern musical: every number from here to 19 starts with that same 1. Thirteen balloons line up five, five, and three, and coloring the last row of three a different color makes the ten-and-three structure easy to see.
Extension: bakeries call thirteen a baker’s dozen, so draw one bonus balloon floating above the others and color it gold. Then count thirteen stairs, thirteen tiles, or thirteen books — and draw a tiny bunch of thirteen balloons in the margin, strings and all.
