Addition with Household Things — Kindergarten

This sheet asks the child to add on some rows and to find a part on others, all with the same friendly household things. Adding means counting a group of lamps, chairs and a clock and a written number into one total; finding a part means looking at a total with one piece shown and working out what completes it, just like making ten. Going back and forth keeps the focus on what the numbers mean rather than on a single repeated step.

Seeing that a handful of household things can be split into a few here and a few there — and that those parts rebuild the whole — is the number-bond idea at the centre of kindergarten arithmetic. The adding rows and the find-the-part rows practise the two directions of that bond, and keeping the amounts inside ten means a child can rebuild or take apart any total by counting.

Children who like household things enjoy the change of pace from row to row, and it works well for a small group ready to think in more than one direction. When the numbers feel easy, count a fresh group in addition with supermarket things, or try addition with classroom objects. You can also browse every addition worksheet or the whole household things collection for kindergarten — each sheet prints cleanly in black and white or plays online for free.