1st Grade Make a Number With Subtraction Worksheet: Up to 10

Ask a six-year-old how to make 4 and they will almost always add: 2 and 2, or 3 and 1. Turning the question around, and making 4 by taking something away, takes a new kind of thinking. This 1st grade make a number with subtraction worksheet asks for exactly that. Each of the eight boxes starts with a question, such as How do you make 7? or How do you make 10? Below it, four subtractions within 10 wait, and only one gives the target. Your child works out each subtraction and marks the right one. A boy holding two giant pencils watches from the top. A second page gives the answer key.

Why you can make a number with subtraction in many ways

Children often think of a number as a fixed thing. Learning that 7 can be 10 - 3, 8 - 1 or 9 - 2 shows them that numbers connect in many ways. That flexible view sits at the center of number sense.

This page builds it gently. First, each box names a target number and lists four subtraction facts, so your child has to compute all of them, not just the first.

Also, the wrong choices are well chosen. For example, the box for 1 offers 1 - 1 and 2 - 2, which both make zero, beside 3 - 1, which makes 2. So the child cannot match digits by sight. Every choice needs real subtraction within 10. Careful checking wins here.

At the table: the boxes for 1 and 10

Start with the box for 2. Point to each subtraction and ask, "What does this one make?"

The pink box, How do you make 1?, is a common trap. A child sees the digit 1 inside 1 - 1 and marks it at once. Instead of correcting, ask, "If you have 1 cookie and eat 1, how many stay?" Let your child test each choice the same way.

However, the orange box for 10 holds a similar surprise. 10 - 10 looks right because of the tens, while 10 - 0 is the one that works. Ask your child to hold up ten fingers, then fold down the number being taken away. Then they can mark the correct subtraction with confidence.

I spy a subtraction

Making a number in more than one way is easy to practice at home. While you wait for dinner, pick a number, say 5, and take turns finding a subtraction that makes it. At the store, hold up a bag with eight apples, take out three, and ask how many stay inside.

Also, turn the classic I Spy game into a number hunt. Say, "I spy a subtraction that makes 4," and let your child answer with one from the page or a new one of their own.

Finally, check the page with the answer key together and praise the effort: "You tested every choice before you marked one."