Free Printable Making 10 worksheets

Start with concrete manipulatives like ten frames and two-color counters. Ask students to find different ways to fill the frame completely, helping them physically see pairs like 7 and 3 or 6 and 4. Gradually move from objects to drawings, and finally to abstract number sentences.

Effective practice moves from concrete to abstract. Begin with ten frames, then progress to number bond diagrams, and finally to simple addition equations where one addend is missing (e.g., 5 + __ = 10). Repetition with varied formats helps build automaticity.

A frequent mistake is simple miscounting, especially when using visual aids. Another is relying on a single, familiar pair like 5+5 and struggling to generate other combinations. Students may also have trouble 'seeing' the ten inside a larger number, which is a key next step after mastering the basic pairs.

This worksheet is available as a printable PDF for hands-on practice or as an interactive digital assignment on Wayground. Each format includes a complete answer key. For paper assignments, you can use the Wayground for Teachers app to quickly scan and grade student work.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics introduce 'making ten' in Kindergarten and Grade 1 as a critical strategy for addition and subtraction. It's a foundational skill for decomposing numbers (e.g., seeing 13 as 10 and 3), which is essential for understanding place value and multi-digit arithmetic in later grades.

For students needing extra support, use Wayground's worksheet-level tools to increase font size and spacing for better readability. In digital assignments, you can enable Read Aloud for auditory support or reduce the number of answer choices to lower the cognitive load on multiple-choice questions.