Subtraction with Christmas — Kindergarten

Each line gives the child a group of trees, baubles and a stocking and some to take away by crossing out. They mark the ones that leave, then count the ones remaining to find how many are left. Doing the take-away with their own hand — rather than reading a minus sign — is how subtraction first makes sense at five and six, and keeping the groups small means the leftover Christmas things can always be checked by counting.

Subtraction makes sense first as an action: some of a group leaves, and we count who remains. Crossing out the Christmas things that go turns that action into something a child can see and do, rather than a rule about a minus sign. Keeping the numbers small means the remainder is always countable, so the answer is verified, not guessed.

Children who enjoy christmas take to crossing out quickly, and it works as a calm hands-on task or a whole-class action on the board. When this feels easy, take some away in subtraction with classroom objects, or try subtraction with farm animals. You can also browse every subtraction worksheet or the whole Christmas things collection for kindergarten — each sheet prints cleanly in black and white or plays online for free.