What Are Number Bonds and How to Teach Them at Home

Published 18 August 2026 by GamesMom Editorial Team

If your child is in kindergarten or first grade, you may have seen the words “number bonds” on their homework. It might sound like a new idea, but it is actually very simple, and it can make adding and subtracting much easier for your child.

This guide explains what number bonds are, why teachers use them, how to draw them, and fun ways to practice at home with things you already have.

What are number bonds?

A number bond shows how a number can be split into two parts. It also shows how two parts join together to make a whole.

Take the number 10. It can be split into 7 and 3. So 7 and 3 are a number bond for 10. It can also be split into 6 and 4, or 5 and 5, or 9 and 1. Each of those pairs is a number bond for 10.

Teachers often call this “part-part-whole.” There is a whole number, and there are two parts that make it.

Why teachers use number bonds

One number bond teaches four facts at once. If your child knows that 7 and 3 make 10, they also know:

• 7 plus 3 is 10
• 3 plus 7 is 10
• 10 minus 3 is 7
• 10 minus 7 is 3

Children who learn facts one at a time often think of 10 minus 3 as a brand new problem. Children who learn number bonds can see that it is the same family of numbers. Adding and subtracting stop being separate things to memorize and start fitting together.

Number bonds also help children move beyond counting on their fingers. Counting on fingers is a normal and useful stage. But if a child still counts every step in second grade, adding gets slow and mistakes creep in. Number bonds give children a faster way to work things out in their head.

How to draw a number bond

The most common picture looks like three connected circles. Put the whole number in the top circle. Draw two lines down to two smaller circles, and put the parts in those.

For example, for the number 8:

• The top circle shows 8.
• One bottom circle shows 5.
• The other bottom circle shows 3.

Draw a few of these on paper or a small whiteboard. Then try leaving one circle empty. If the top says 8 and one part says 6, what goes in the other circle?

That empty circle is a great puzzle for children. It is also their first taste of algebra, finding a missing number.

Using a ten frame

A ten frame is another handy picture. It is a rectangle split into ten boxes, in two rows of five.

Put 7 counters, buttons or dried beans in the boxes. Now ask your child how many boxes are empty. They can see straight away that there are 3. So 7 and 3 make 10.

You can draw a ten frame on paper in a minute. Try filling it with different numbers of counters, and each time talk about how many more you need to make 10.

Start with bonds to ten

The number bonds to 10 are the most useful ones to learn first. Here they are:

• 0 and 10
• 1 and 9
• 2 and 8
• 3 and 7
• 4 and 6
• 5 and 5

Our number system is built around tens, so these pairs come up again and again. When your child can see a 6 and know straight away that it needs a 4 to make 10, a lot of later math gets easier.

Once bonds to 10 feel easy, move on to bonds for smaller numbers like 5 and 6, then bonds to 20. Bonds to 20 build on bonds to 10. If 4 and 6 make 10, then 14 and 6 make 20.

The number bonds game gives children a target number and a grid of numbers. They tap two numbers that add up to the target, and each correct pair clears off the board.

The make ten trick for adding

This is where number bonds really shine. Look at 8 plus 5.

A child who counts on their fingers holds 8 in their head, then counts up: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. That works, but it is slow.

A child who knows number bonds thinks like this:

1. 8 needs 2 more to make 10.
2. Split the 5 into 2 and 3.
3. 8 plus 2 is 10.
4. 10 plus 3 is 13.

It sounds like more steps, but with practice it happens in a flash. Teachers often call this “making ten” or “bridging ten.”

It works for subtracting too

Try 14 minus 6.

1. Split the 6 into 4 and 2.
2. 14 minus 4 is 10.
3. 10 minus 2 is 8.

And for bigger numbers later

The same idea works with bigger numbers. For 88 plus 25, notice that 88 needs 12 to make 100. Take 12 from the 25, which leaves 13. So the answer is 113.

Your child will not need that in kindergarten, but the thinking they build now is exactly what they will use later.

For more ways to build number sense in first grade, see our guide to math games for 6 year olds.

Number bond games at home

You do not need worksheets. Everyday moments are full of number bond practice.

Snack splits

Give your child 10 crackers and two plates. How many different ways can they split the crackers between the plates? 6 and 4, 7 and 3, 10 and 0. Say each pair out loud.

Setting the table

“We need 6 forks. Here are 4. How many more do we need?”

Hidden counters

Put 10 buttons on the table. Hide some under a cup while your child looks away. Count the buttons you can still see. How many are under the cup?

Go to Ten card game

Take the face cards and tens out of a deck of playing cards. Deal five cards each. Players take turns asking for a card that makes 10 with one in their hand. If you have a 7, ask “Do you have a 3?” Put down each pair that makes 10. The first player to pair all their cards wins.

Dice bonds

Roll a die, or use a dice roller. Your child says the number that goes with it to make 10. Roll a 4, say 6. Roll a 6, say 4.

Speed round

Once your child knows their pairs well, a short race can be fun. The quick math game has children answer sums against the clock, and the goal is to beat their own last score.

Tips for teaching number bonds

• Start with real objects. Buttons, blocks and snacks come before pictures, and pictures come before just numbers.
• Go slowly. Master bonds to 5 or 10 before moving on.
• Talk it through. Ask “How did you work that out?”
• Keep it short. A few minutes a day beats a long session once a week.
• Praise the thinking, not just the right answer.

How number bonds help later

Number bonds keep paying off as children move through school. Knowing how numbers split apart helps with adding and subtracting bigger numbers, with telling time, with money and later with multiplication, which is really adding equal groups.

Children who understand how numbers fit together tend to feel more confident about math. That confidence can make a big difference as the work gets harder.

Where to find more

For games that practice counting, adding and more, explore our guide to math games for kids.

For games across every subject, see our guide to learning games for kids.

For more on how games support school skills, browse our educational games for kids.

If math is a struggle at your house, our guide on how to help a child who struggles with math shows how to find the gap and fix it.