About this game

Add 2 numbers up to 5

Add 2 numbers up to 5: a free Grade 1 math game for ages 6-7. Each round draws 8 questions; instructions are read aloud and every answer is checked and explained.

How it plays and why it helps

Twenty cards, and between them every way to add two numbers and land on 5 or less, zeros included. Add 2 numbers up to 5 is a Grade 1 game played on the keypad: a sum such as 3 + 2 appears, your child works it out and types the answer. Eight cards make a round, the instruction is read aloud, and every answer is checked right away.

Sums this small are worth knowing by heart, because they become the building blocks of larger facts. The bank pairs each sum with its turnaround, 1 + 4 and 4 + 1, so your child can notice that order does not change the total. The hint gives a method: start from the first number and count on.

Zero is where the typing wobbles. Ten of the twenty cards hold a 0, and some children type 0 as the answer, or add one anyway. The hint already says it: adding 0 changes nothing. Ask, "If nobody adds any, how many are there?" Praise the thinking: "You knew zero leaves it the same."

Aligned with

  • 1.OA.B.4 Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem. For example, subtract 10 - 8 by finding the number that makes 10 when added to 8.
  • 1.OA.D.8 Determine the unknown whole number in an addition or subtraction equation relating three whole numbers. For example, determine the unknown number that makes the equation true in each of the equations 8 + ? = 11, 5 = _ - 3, 6 + 6 = _.
  • 1.OA.A.1 Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

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