Tuck's Ten Bundles — Add with Regrouping (Grade 1)

About this activity

Tuck the hamster shows base-ten blocks while children add a two-digit and a one-digit number whose ones spill past ten — problems like 27 + 5, 48 + 6, and 19 + 4 — tapping 'Make a ten' to bundle ten unit-cubes into one ten-rod, then typing the total. It's a free, interactive Grade 1 math activity that runs right in the browser with no account.

The big idea is the very first meaning of carrying: ten ones make one ten. Rather than learning a written shortcut, the child counts the loose ones, sees that there are more than ten, and watches ten of them snap together into a ten-rod. The leftover ones stay in the ones place, so the child can see why the total lands where it does — concrete regrouping before the pencil-and-paper rule.

It is aligned to Common Core 1.NBT.C.4 — adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number, and understanding that you sometimes compose a ten. No timer, no score — just calm, playful practice.

What's inside this activity

• Designed for Grade 1 learners (ages about 6–7)
• Common Core strand: Number & Operations in Base Ten
• Aligned to Common Core standard 1.NBT.C.4

How to play

Read the addition, like 27 + 5, and watch Tuck show it in base-ten blocks.

Tap 'Make a ten' to bundle ten loose ones into one ten-rod.

Type the total on the keypad; try again any time, with no timer and no score.

What your child practices

• Add a two-digit and a one-digit number when the ones make more than ten
• Bundle ten unit-cubes into one ten-rod
• Understand carrying as composing a ten from ten ones
• Type the correct total after regrouping

Learning goals

Add within 100 with regrouping — the focus of Common Core 1.NBT.C.4

Understand that ten ones compose one ten

Build the place-value meaning behind written addition with carrying