Kindergarten Tens and Ones Worksheet: Break Up the Numbers 21 to 30

In a two-digit number, each digit has a job. The tens digit counts groups of ten, and the ones digit counts the single ones. As a result, the same digit can mean two or twenty. Teachers call this place value, one of the big steps in early math.

This page keeps every number between 21 and 30, so the tens digit is almost always 2. However, that repetition is the point. Your child can focus on the ones, then meet the surprise at 30, where the ones become zero.

So the page builds place value on a small, safe range. One decade, two digits.

Before the pencil, grab some straws or craft sticks and make two bundles of ten with rubber bands, plus a few loose ones. Then build 24 together and ask, "How many bundles? How many loose sticks?"

Next, look at the red example at the top. Read it aloud: "Twenty-one is two tens and one." After that, your child fills the boxes.

The box for 30 is the likely slip. For example, a child may write 3 tens and 3 ones, or leave the ones square empty. Instead of correcting, build 30 with the bundles and ask, "Any loose sticks?" The answer shows up on the table.

Finally, check each box together.

At snack time, count apple slices or crackers into groups of ten on a plate, then ask how many groups and how many extras. Also, sort buttons into cups of ten while you tidy up.

For a story, read Ten Apples Up On Top! by Theo LeSieg, the pen name of Dr. Seuss. Animals stack apples on their heads, all the way to ten. While you read, hold up a finger for each apple, then say, "One full ten."

When your child writes the last number, praise the thinking: "You split every number into tens and ones. That is real math."