It is important to study the pin configuration of the IC (Fig 2) as the outputs from the 4017 are not in the same order as the pin configuration which can be confusing if you don’t follow the diagram carefully.
Building this circuit successfully requires a degree of patience as the breadboard configuration of this (Fig 3) is quite complex.
Fig 3 also contains the Astable 555 breadboard which provides the clocking pulse for the Decade Counter.
There are many ways to set this circuit up which can be researched freely. I have chosen to set it as an up down clocking pulse as it creates an interesting lighting effect but it can be used to count from 0 to 9 using up to 10 LEDs if required.
Could you use any other circuits to provide the pulse?
Could you use an Arduino to build a hybrid circuit?