Teaching Addition: Strategies & Activities!

Math tips and strategies for teaching addition to Kindergarten and first grade. Addition activities, games and resources including FREE printables!

Learning about addition doesn’t have to be limited to the classroom. There are so many opportunities to teach your child addition strategies in their everyday situations right at home! We’ll give you some ideas on how to help your kid learn addition by bringing activities and games into their home learning environment AND will give you some free printables to make the task easier.

Before we get started, if you need more resources take a look at our articles:

Building Math Confidence in Early Childhood

Super Simple Addition & Subtraction Craft Activity

And you might find our math books a useful addition to support learning at home.

Math Activity Workbook for Kindergarten Kids

Number Tracing Practice Book for Kids Ages 3-5

Numeracy development - how kids learn

It’s helpful to understand that your kid will progress through stages when learning most concepts. Not every child will progress through these stages in a linear way across every subject but this will give you an overview of the underlying approach to addition strategies.

Concrete Stage - kids learn problem-solving by using physical objects such as math manipulatives. Manipulatives such as counters, blocks, or even their fingers provide a multisensory experience that helps to make an abstract idea tangible and therefore easier to grasp.
Pictorial - problem-solving takes place through drawing a picture, or making a mark on the page. This concept carries through into more complex math when even high school students are encouraged to ‘draw’ the problem.
Abstract - your child problem-solves by working with the numbers within a numerical relationship. This is more than memorising, it is understanding how to apply strategies to pull numbers apart or to put numbers back together.

Using math manipulatives

When first exploring the concept of addition it is useful to have math manipulatives available to give a hands-on learning experience. These do not have to be expensive store bought items but can be things that you have at home such as dice, counters, beans, beads, buttons, building blocks, legos or dominos.

Although math manipulatives have their place, the overall goal is to build addition fluency and to solve problems mentally.

For more information on math manipulatives read our article Top Math Manipulatives: Must-Have Math Tools.

Why addition strategies?

Math concepts can be challenging but the goal is to create a confident math kid who perceives themselves as ‘math can doers.’ The evidence shows that a strong foundation in math in early education is predictive of overall school achievement. So, it’s important that we provide kids with all the tools they will need to feel comfortable and confident in their math journey.

Strategies provide your child with a way to overcome obstacles as they seek to solve a problem. If your child feels ‘stuck’ they may decide the problem is too hard and they would rather give up. Providing a range of strategies gives them the opportunity to tackle the problem in a different way. Knowing they can avoid getting stuck can boost their math resilience and build their confidence. Various addition strategies should be in their toolkit. Remind your child that there can be more than one way to solve a problem and ask them to call on the strategies they know.

Keep in mind that many of the strategies your child will learn to master addition can also be used for subtraction. For example, if your child is using their fingers to count on, they can do the reverse and take away.

To get make things a little easier, we have created a Math Strategy & Activity Free Printable to accompany this post. This printable will have a variety of activities you can use to support the strategies listed below.

Addition strategies: Composing & Decomposing

1. Counting with fingers

It really doesn’t get much simpler than using what they have on hand - yes, we intend the pun - their fingers! A fabulous mobile manipulative they can use anywhere.

For younger children, start by counting on up to the number 5. As they gain confidence increase this up to 10. Give them a variety of equations and get them to practice often. As their skills develop, give them more complex equations up to 20.

2. Math manipulatives - using small objects to act it out

This is where you introduce snap cubes, counting bears, two color counters, different color popsicle sticks or whatever objects you have in the home to make it easier for your child to visualize the problem. Acting it out never gets old and can help to keep your child engaged with the task.

3. Draw the problem

Research supports the importance of valuing and supporting the development of children drawing mathematical representations to facilitate successful problem-solving. The mere act of drawing expands the problem into a visual cue that can be easier for children to understand and is a powerful technique for word problems. But the idea of drawing to represent a problem is not something a child will innately do. Encourage them to use tally marks, shapes or pictures to represent what they hear or read.

Activities and games using addition strategies

We start with some of the more worksheet style activities (still fun, still hands-on) and then progress to games. Your child will be learning about:

composing - taking two lesser numbers and putting them together to make a greater whole number and,
decomposing - taking the greater number and breaking it into smaller parts.

To get started you may like to print the Math Strategy & Activity Free Printable that accompanies this post. Have a selection of math manipulatives and colored pencils or markers on hand.

Sorting mat

Print the number cards (or use your own) and the addition sorting mat and use different colored manipulatives.

Have your child select a number card. This will be the number they are going to compose. Place it in the appropriate column of the sorting mat.
Using the example of number 5 introduce the concept, ‘If I have 3 red counters, I need 2 blue counters to make 5 because 3 and 2 make 5.’ Place these in the appropriate columns of the sorting mat.
Once they understand the concept. Ask them if there is another way they can make the number 5 and encourage them to use their manipulatives to find the answer.
Have them select another number card and repeat the process.

2. Addition problem cards

Print the addition problem cards #1 for this activity and bring out the manipulatives.

Select a problem card.
Use the manipulatives to create the problem.
Use the addition sorting mat if needed.

3. 10 frame

Print out the 10 frame activity sheet. Use the number cards from the printout.

Once again, they are going to practice putting numbers together and 10 frames are a wonderfully visual way for your child to see how parts make up a whole.

Place cards 1 to 10 in a pile.
Select a card and use manipulatives to fill the 10 frame up to that number.
Ask your child how many more are needed to make 10.

4. Drawing the problem

Introduce the concept of drawing as a problem-solving technique. For this activity, encourage the use of different colored pencils or markers and make it fun!

Idea #1…

As drawing is good technique for word problems, why not create a story from the equation and write it on the drawing template? We’ve provided you some word problems to for inspiration.

Idea #2…

Use problem cards #1 and #2 or make up your own equations. You can use the drawing template for inspiration.

Select a problem card from the pack.
You can use the template or a blank piece of paper and write the equation and the base of the page.
Encourage your child to draw each part of the problem on the page. In the beginning, it can be useful to use a different color for each part. For example, if the problem is 5 + 2 = , your child may draw 5 blue circles and 2 yellow circles. As they progress, they may choose to draw the parts in the same color.

5. Number bonds

Print the number bond template and pull out the manipulatives. Snap cubes are useful for this activity but they are not essential and household items will work just as well.

Your child is going to break a whole number into its parts.

Use the manipulatives to create a whole number, for example 5.
Then count out the same number (4) and split them into parts according to the number bond template (e.g. 3 and 1).
Ask your child if there is another way to break the whole number into 2 parts.

6. Number line

Print the number line templates and the problem cards.

Number lines are a simple visual way to show children how to add on to make a number (and remember you can do the reverse for subtraction tasks). Have them select a problem card. They can;

use their finger to complete the equation by counting on.
color in the add on numbers.
use a pencil to ‘hop’ from one number to the next.

7. Playing card addition

A deck of playing cards is the ultimate mobile addition game pack.

Addition war: Each player turns over two cards, adds them up, and the player with the higher number gets the cards. Play until one player loses all of their cards.

Go fish make 10: The aim of the game is to collect pairs of cards with a total sum of 10. Remove pictures cards and the number 10 cards. Explain the Ace card is equal to the number one.

To help your child out, encourage them to use their addition strategies such as counting with their fingers, acting it out with manipulatives or even place a number line in front of them and encourage to count on.

If your child has a 3 they will ask, ‘do you have a 7?’
If they make a pair that adds up to 10 place the pair on the table.
If their opponent does not have the card they will say, ‘Go fish’ and your child will pick up a new card from the draw pile and wait while their opponent takes their turn.
Play continues until either someone has no cards left in their hand or the draw pile runs out. The winner is the player who has created the most ‘make 10’ pairs.

8. Dice bingo

Print out the dice bingo template and gather a set of dice.

In this activity you will be rolling the dice to see who can fill up their bingo card the fastest. As dice throws are luck not skill based, we’ve kept the game contained to 4 squares for a win so they don’t lose interest and the game doesn’t drag on.

Check the bingo card to see what numbers are needed.
Roll the dice and if they add up to make one of the numbers on the card, color in the square.
The first person to complete a row calls out BINGO and wins the game.

9. Dominoes

Print the number cards and grab a box of dominoes.

Dominoes are great for practicing number recognition and counting. There are a couple of ways you can use dominoes.

Simple addition- ask your child to add the numbers of each tile together as they place their tiles down.
Matching - line up the number cards from 1 to 10.
- Have your child draw a domino from the pile.
- Add the dots on each side.
- Find the number card that matches the sum and place the domino on top of it.

10. Flip it and add it

Print the addition sentence recording sheet.

Place two piles of number cards or playing cards facing down.
Ask your child to select a card from each pile and complete the problem in the addition recording sheet. Remind them they can draw it or act it out with manipulatives.

The Final Word

Use these activities to help your child have fun while mastering addition. Encourage them to use the addition strategies and remind them that they have more than one way to solve a problem. By doing this, you’ll build their math resilience and create confident math kids.