Subtraction with Reptiles and Amphibians — Kindergarten

Take a small pile of frogs, snakes and a turtle, cross some away, count what's left — that is the whole of this kindergarten sheet, repeated with a fresh picture each row. The child does the subtracting with a pencil stroke, removing the reptiles that go and counting the remainder. Doing it by hand keeps the idea concrete: subtraction is what happens when some of a group is taken away, and the leftover is the answer.

Crossing out is a small action with a big idea behind it: a quantity can be made smaller, and we can say exactly how much is left. Doing it with pictured reptiles keeps the idea concrete and self-checking, which is precisely what take-away subtraction should be at five and six — seen and done, not memorised.

Children who enjoy reptiles and amphibians 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 shapes, or try subtraction with toys. You can also browse every subtraction worksheet or the whole reptiles collection for kindergarten — each sheet prints cleanly in black and white or plays online for free.