One maker for every step
- Within 10. The facts children learn first, a whole sheet at a time.
- Within 20. Sums that cross ten, like 8 + 5 and 7 + 6.
- Two digits, no regrouping. Add the ones, then the tens.
- Two digits with regrouping. Ten ones make a ten: carry it to the next column.
- Three digits. The same steps with hundreds.
Stacked or in a row
Stacked problems line the digits up in columns, the way children learn written addition with regrouping. Problems in a row (47 + 25 = ___) suit mental maths and fact practice. Both come with an answer key.
More addition
For younger children, picture addition has groups of pictures to count before the number sentence. For taking away, the subtraction worksheets work the same way, with or without borrowing.
In the New Zealand Curriculum
- First 6 monthsNew entrants recall addition facts to 5 and learn the words add, plus and join.
- Year 1Basic addition facts to 10, doubles and halves, and joining groups of objects up to 20.
- Year 2Quick recall of addition facts to 20, and adding two-digit numbers by splitting them into tens and ones, as in 53 + 21.
- Years 3–4Adding within 1,000 in Year 3, then 2-, 3- and 4-digit numbers in Year 4, with rounding to check that an answer is sensible.
In Aotearoa the facts within 10 and 20 are called basic facts, and kura aim for ākonga to know them without counting on their fingers. Year 2 work leans on place value: 53 + 21 is 50 + 20 and 3 + 1. Problems in a row with Never regrouping suit that kind of mental splitting, and the stacked layout fits once your school moves to written methods.
The maker stops at three digits, so the four-digit sums of Year 4 need another source.
Summarised in our own words from the New Zealand Curriculum: Mathematics and Statistics, Years 0–8 (in effect from 2025), and the Ministry of Education’s year-by-year guide for parents and whānau.
