3-Digit Addition with Carrying

This worksheet stretches column addition to three digits: hundreds, tens and ones stacked in tidy columns, with dashed carry boxes above each problem. The child works right to left as always — ones first, then tens, then hundreds — but now a carry can appear twice in one problem: the ones may send a ten leftward, and the tens may send a hundred leftward, sometimes one after the other in a little chain.

The step from two digits to three is less about difficulty and more about trust in the method. Nothing new happens in any single column — it is the same add-and-regroup the child already knows — but the problem is longer, working memory is under more load, and a carry made in the ones can matter two columns later. That is why the chain problems are the heart of this page: when a carried ten tips the tens column over as well, the child experiences the deep truth of the column method, that the same simple rule just repeats leftward, no matter how long the number gets. A child who owns that idea can add numbers of any size; the digits stop being a threat.

The PDF prints free — encourage a fingertip on each column as it is worked, a small habit that prevents skipped carries. If chains cause stumbles, 2-digit addition with carrying isolates the basic trade again, and the regrouping review page mixes directions once confidence returns.