Three Ways to Show a Number

About this activity

Children link the cards that show the same value — the numeral (305), the number in words (three hundred five), and the expanded form (300 + 5) — tapping one card, then a card that matches its value, until the trio is connected. It's a free, interactive Grade 2 math card-matching game that plays right in the browser — no install, no account.

The big idea is that a numeral, its number name, and its expanded form all name one number — and the place-value gaps are where it gets interesting. Numbers like 305 and 208 have a zero in the tens place, so the expanded form is 300 + 5 rather than 300 + 0 + 5, and children must read carefully to match "two hundred eight" to 208, not 280. Each round has three different numbers to sort out at once.

It is aligned to Common Core 2.NBT.A.3 — reading and writing numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. No timer, no score — just calm, playful practice.

What's inside this activity

• Designed for Grade 2 learners (ages about 7–8)
• Common Core strand: Number & Operations in Base Ten
• Aligned to Common Core standard 2.NBT.A.3

How to play

Look at the cards — numerals like 562, words like five hundred sixty-two, and expanded forms like 500 + 60 + 2.

Tap one card, then tap another card that shows the same number, and watch the pair link.

Find all three numbers in the round — there is no timer and no score, so take your time.

What your child practices

• Connect a numeral, its number name, and its expanded form
• Read three-digit number words like nine hundred forty
• Write expanded form correctly when a place has a zero, like 600 + 5
• Tell apart close numbers such as 208 and 280

Learning goals

Read and write numbers to 1000 as numerals, number names, and expanded form — the focus of Common Core 2.NBT.A.3

Understand that different forms can name the same value

Strengthen place-value sense, including numbers with a zero in a place