What is on this worksheet
Twenty take away problems within 10, generated fresh on every visit and never dropping below zero. Subtraction usually gives children more trouble than addition, and the reason is worth knowing: counting backward is genuinely harder for young minds than counting forward. The way through is to stop treating subtraction as its own separate operation. Read 9 minus 6 as a question about addition, namely what joins with 6 to make 9, and a child who knows their addition facts already has the answer.
How to use it
Print this 20-problem subtraction worksheet for take away practice within 10. Fresh numbers are generated every visit.
Three ways to practice
Turn it into an addition question
For 9 minus 6, ask what you add to 6 to reach 9. This works because subtraction and addition are the same relationship viewed from different ends, and it means every addition fact your child has already learned does double duty here instead of being memorized a second time.
Count back only when the gap is small
Counting backward is efficient for problems like 8 minus 2, where there are only two steps to take. It becomes slow and error prone for something like 9 minus 7. Teaching a child to pick their method based on the size of the gap is more useful than insisting on one approach every time.
Build the fact family
Take any problem on the sheet, say 10 minus 4 equals 6, and write all four facts that live in those three numbers: 4 plus 6, 6 plus 4, 10 minus 4 and 10 minus 6. Seeing the family together is what makes the link between adding and subtracting concrete rather than something a child is told.
A tip worth knowing
Remind children that subtraction is missing addition: 9 - 6 asks what you add to 6 to make 9.
Printing this sheet
Press Print this sheet and the worksheet prints alone on a single portrait page, sized for US Letter or A4. Problems are laid out in two columns with a ruled answer line and enough space between rows for a pencil, rather than being squeezed together. Print with answers hidden for your child, then use Show answers and print once more if you want a key to mark against.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my child find subtraction harder than addition?
Chiefly because it runs backward, and counting down is harder than counting up for most young children. Addition also comes up more often in daily life, so it gets more incidental practice. Connecting subtraction back to the addition facts your child already knows is the most reliable way to close the gap.
Should my child count back or think in addition?
It depends on the numbers. Counting back suits a small difference such as 7 minus 2. Thinking in addition is faster when the two numbers are close together, as in 9 minus 7, where counting back takes seven steps but recognizing that 7 plus 2 makes 9 takes none. Both are worth having.
Will any answers come out negative?
No. Every problem on this sheet is built so the larger number comes first and the answer is zero or more, which keeps it suitable for kindergarten and first grade. Negative numbers are usually introduced several years later, and meeting them accidentally on a practice sheet would only cause confusion.