Boost Year 1 maths skills with our ultimate guide to addition and subtraction. Includes teaching advice, interactive activity ideas, and practice word problems for kids.
Author
Mhairi Sim
Published
February 2026
Boost Year 1 maths skills with our ultimate guide to addition and subtraction. Includes teaching advice, interactive activity ideas, and practice word problems for kids.
Author
Mhairi Sim
Published
February 2026
Boost Year 1 maths skills with our ultimate guide to addition and subtraction. Includes teaching advice, interactive activity ideas, and practice word problems for kids.
Author
Mhairi Sim
Published
February 2026
Key Takeaways
Table of contents
Year 1 addition and subtraction learning forms the foundation for all later maths learning. At this stage, kiddos aren’t just learning to “do sums”, they’re learning how numbers work at the most basic level!
The Year 1 maths National Curriculum states that Year 1 addition and subtraction should teach learners to:
Before launching straight into activities and practice problems, it’s important to understand the core concepts of Year 1 subtraction and addition teaching and learning, and why these are so important for future maths success. This guide explores Year 1 addition and subtraction teaching, breaking it down into simple steps and sharing fun, engaging activities to try out with your learners!
The key concepts for teaching Year 1 subtraction and addition fall into three main areas: composing and partitioning numbers, number bonds and facts, and signs and symbols. Let’s take a closer look at what teaching and learning should look like in each of these.
Before kiddos can even begin to add or subtract confidently, it’s important that they can see numbers as being made up of parts and wholes. For example, recognising that 8 can be 5 + 3, or 6 + 2, helps learners see how these numbers relate to each other in addition and subtraction.
A strong foundation here looks like your learner being able to:
Number bonds are the next piece in the place value puzzle and are simply pairs of numbers that make a given total. Our Year 1 addition and subtraction learners should know their number bonds to 10, and they’ll be building towards knowing these up to 20.
Related to these number bonds are the Year 1 subtraction facts. These are linked in that they work backwards to partition the target number into smaller numbers. For example, these are some number bonds to 10 and the related subtraction facts:
Finally, our Year 1 addition and subtraction learners need to know the meaning and correct use of three key symbols: add (+), subtract (-), and equals (=).
Whilst the + and – symbols speak for themselves, our little ones must understand that the equals sign is more than “here’s the answer”. It means that each side of the equation shows the same amount, or is equal. For example, in 3 + 4 = 7, both sides show the same total (7); one side shows the total partitioned into two smaller numbers.
To illustrate this concept to learners, we often use concrete materials such as cubes or counters, as in the example below:
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The best place for our Year 1s to start learning to add and subtract is with concrete materials (or manipulatives, as they’re sometimes called) such as counters, cubes, buttons, beads, or toys. Using these allows them to see the actual physical meaning of the maths.
Examples of this I’ve used in my classroom are:
Once our learners have the physical understanding under their belts, it’s time to move on to pictorial models, such as drawings of items or even simple number lines. They could:
I find that activities like these help get learning onto the page and begin to move students’ understanding from the concrete to a more abstract understanding.
The next step for Year 1 in their addition and subtraction learning is to link their understanding of manipulatives and pictures to writing maths expressions with symbols. To do this, we introduce +, –, and = slowly, ensuring that our learners understand each symbol’s meaning and purpose.
Giving them a story to follow as they use the symbols is often really helpful here! I love using these books to help illustrate the concepts to my learners:
Be sure to model the use of precise mathematical language with your learners to ensure that concepts are clear to them, for example:
Building a strong maths vocabulary early on gives learners the tools they need to explain their reasoning and verbalise their thinking clearly. This will help massively as they progress beyond Year 1 and move up through the school.
The final stage of Year 1 subtraction and addition learning is to allow them opportunities to practice their skills in short but frequent sessions. Repeated practice will improve their recall of those all-important number bonds and the ability to apply that learning to new problems fluently.
To encourage kids to keep practising their addition and subtraction skills, it’s essential to have a bank of fun and engaging activities to keep them interested!. Here are a few activities I’ve tried and had success with, both in the classroom and at home with my own little learners:
Have your learners go around and collect some objects, counting them once they’re finished collecting. Then have them add or take away items and talk through what they’re doing.
Challenge your little ones to come up with their own fun maths stories. They could be real or made-up scenarios (e.g. “We made 8 cakes and ate 3…”), but they must work out the correct answer for the end of the story either on their own or together as a group.
Create a number line on the floor or out on the playground and let your kiddos physically hop forwards and backwards as they complete addition and subtraction problems.
In pairs or groups, have learners roll two dice and either add or subtract the numbers (whichever is your focus). The winner is the child with the highest or lowest number.
Similar to above, use dominoes and have your kids add or subtract the number of dots. Turn it into a game by playing in teams or pairs, with the highest/lowest number winning.
Add some simple price tags to toys in your playroom or classroom and let Year 1 learners play shop! Learners pick up two toys, then add up the cost using their addition skills. They can then pay with either 10p or 20p and work out how much change they’ll get using their subtraction skills.
There are plenty of addition and subtraction songs and rhymes to take your pick from to support recall and reinforce key concepts. My own son’s favourite is Danny Go’s “Math Whiz!” Addition Song, and we frequently return to this list of maths songs from Songs for Teaching!
Every child’s favourite game is the one where they get to be right and correct the adult! Write a few addition and subtraction questions down, complete with answers, but get some of the answers wrong. Then task your learners with checking your work and making any corrections.
Educational games and apps are hard to beat for an easy-win revision session – kids love playing games on their devices, and parents love it when their kids are learning! That’s where our fantastic DoodleLearning maths app comes in.
The app tailors tasks and gameplay to each learner’s progress, meaning learners’ practice is focused on the areas they need it most. Parents and teachers can use the adult dashboard to assign specific tasks and monitor progress, too! What’s not to love?
1. 4 + 3 = __
2. 16 + 2 = __
3. 9 + 1 = __
4. 15 + 5 = __
5. 7 + 2 = __
6. 8 − 3 = __
7. 10 − 2 = __
8. 13 − 3 = __
9. 9 − 5 = __
10. 17 − 6 = __
11. Sam has 9 apples. He picks 4 more. How many does he have altogether?
12. 10 birds were sitting in the tree. 4 flew away. How many are left?
13. Is this subtraction equation correct? Why or why not?
8 − 1 = 6
Teacher tip: If your child gets stuck, ask them to talk through their thinking. This will let you understand how they are approaching the problem and make their process clear.
Lesson credits
Mhairi Sim
Mhairi is an experienced teacher, freelance writer and parent. After completing her bachelor's degree in Psychology, she graduated as a teacher from the University of Strathclyde. She then built experience teaching across KS1 and KS2 throughout the UK. In addition to working in mainstream education, Mhairi specialised in the additional support needs sector, including social, emotional, and behavioural support.
Mhairi Sim
Mhairi is an experienced teacher, freelance writer and parent. After completing her bachelor's degree in Psychology, she graduated as a teacher from the University of Strathclyde. She then built experience teaching across KS1 and KS2 throughout the UK. In addition to working in mainstream education, Mhairi specialised in the additional support needs sector, including social, emotional, and behavioural support.
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