Addition Games for Kids

How MathHero Games Teach Addition

MathHero teaches addition through practice inside a story. Every action in the adventure is an addition problem to solve, so your child answers many facts in one session without it feeling like a drill, and wants to come back for the next level.

In the MathHero app, a parent chooses one of two ways to work on addition:

• Step-by-step learning. Three learning programs, Addition and Subtraction to 10, Addition to 20 and Addition to 100, add new facts a little at a time, so your child practices each group of facts before moving on.
• Custom Practice. For sums your child already knows: pick addition and subtraction up to 10, 20, 100 or 1,000 and a difficulty, and practice until the answers come quickly.

The games on this page work like practice. Before the first level, a “Choose your addition” screen asks for a range under “Add numbers up to”. Nothing is chosen to begin with: tap 10, 20, 100 or 1000, then press Play.

• Up to 10: all 45 facts with sums up to 10, like 6 + 3.
• Up to 20: facts like 13 + 4 and 8 + 5. A “Without crossing 10” checkbox, off to begin with, keeps only facts like 13 + 4.
• Up to 100: problems like 40 + 30, 34 + 5 and 47 + 38. A “No regrouping” checkbox, off to begin with, keeps only problems like 23 + 45.
• Up to 1000: problems like 300 + 400, 235 + 48 and 358 + 267, with the same “No regrouping” checkbox.

No level gets harder over time: every level draws from the range you picked, and your child taps one of four answers. The pick is remembered for the other adventures on this page and for your next visit. Each skill page is narrower: its games ask only that skill's problems, like the +1 to +5 facts on the addition to 10 page.

MathHero has no video lessons, and it does not teach counting from scratch. It builds the skill through practice, so the games work best once your child knows what adding means, for example putting two groups of toys together and counting them.

How to Learn Addition Facts

To learn the addition facts, move from counting to knowing: count on from the bigger number, learn the pairs that make 10 and the doubles by heart, then use them to make a ten for sums over 10. Bigger numbers use the same facts, added as tens and ones. Practice a little most days until the answers come from memory.

1. Count on from the bigger number

For 6 + 3, start at 6 and count three more: 7, 8, 9. Start with the bigger number even when it comes second: 2 + 7 is the same as 7 + 2, so count 8, 9. Counting on is a first step, and the goal is to know the facts to 10 without counting. Practice them in our addition to 10 games.

2. Learn the pairs to 10

Five pairs make 10: 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, 4 + 6 and 5 + 5, and the same pairs turned around. Kindergarten standard K.OA.A.4 asks children to find the number that makes 10 with any number from 1 to 9. Our number bonds games practice these pairs with a missing number, like 7 + ? = 10.

3. Use doubles and near doubles

Doubles like 6 + 6 = 12 are easy to remember, and they unlock their neighbors: 6 + 7 is one more than 6 + 6, so it is 13. Common Core names this strategy for 1st grade in standard 1.OA.C.6.

4. Make a ten

For sums over 10, fill up a ten first. In 8 + 5, 8 needs 2 more to make 10, so split 5 into 2 and 3: 8 + 2 = 10, and 10 + 3 = 13. This is where the pairs to 10 pay off. Practice the strategy in our making 10 games and the sums in our addition to 20 games.

5. Add tens and ones

Bigger numbers are the same facts, added by place. For 23 + 45, add the tens, 20 + 40 = 60, then the ones, 3 + 5 = 8: 60 + 8 = 68. When the ones make 10 or more, as in 47 + 38, the extra ten joins the tens: 70 + 15 = 85. Our 2-digit addition games practice sums up to 100.

Common mistakes

• Counting all instead of counting on. A child who finds 6 + 3 by counting 1, 2, 3 and on up to 9 gets the right answer, but slowly. Show them how to start at 6 and count only the 3.
• Adding ones to the tens. 34 + 5 is not 84. The 5 is ones, so it goes with the 4: 4 + 5 = 9, and 34 + 5 = 39.
• Forgetting the extra tens. In 358 + 267, the ones make 15 and the tens make 12, and each time 1 moves on to the next place. Skipping both gives 515 instead of 625. To check, round first: 360 + 270 is about 630.

Each addition skill also has its own page, with games on that skill only and the strategies that work best for it. For early number ideas to try at home, see our number sense activities and our guide to what math a 5 year old should know.

What Grade Learns Addition?

In the US, children learn addition from kindergarten to 3rd grade, usually at ages 5-9. Each year builds on the facts from the year before:

• Kindergarten: split numbers up to 10 into pairs in more than one way (K.OA.A.3), find the number that makes 10 with any number from 1 to 9 (K.OA.A.4) and add fluently within 5 (K.OA.A.5).
• 1st grade: add within 20 with strategies like counting on, making ten and doubles, fluently within 10 (1.OA.C.6), and add within 100 for a two-digit number plus ones or tens (1.NBT.C.4).
• 2nd grade: know all sums of two one-digit numbers from memory by the end of the year (2.OA.B.2), add fluently within 100 (2.NBT.B.5) and add within 1000 (2.NBT.B.7).
• 3rd grade: add fluently within 1000 (3.NBT.A.2).

In England, children recall number bonds up to 5 and some number bonds to 10, including double facts, by the end of Reception. In Year 1 they use number bonds within 20, in Year 2 they recall addition facts to 20 fluently and add two two-digit numbers, and in Year 3 they add numbers with up to three digits using columnar addition.

Age

5-9

US grade

K-3

Standard

Common Core 2.OA.B.2

England

Reception-Year 3