If you already have a breadboard / project board I would start with simple counter circuits similar to this basic circuit then work into more complex circuits. Before even doing that, experimenting with counters requires clock pulses. I would suggest you build a few clock (square wave oscillator) circuits. Use chips like the good old 555 to build clock circuits with adjustable frequency. When building counter circuits start simple and understand what is going on in the circuit. Understand the counter circuit basics. Then move along to more advanced counter circuits and designs as well as applications for those circuits.
That would be my suggestions and welcome to the forums.
Ron