Find the Missing Number — Beach Things — Grade 1

Find what was taken away — that is the task on every row. The starting group of buckets, spades and a starfish and the number left are given; the child fills in how many went. This change-unknown form asks for a little more thought than plain subtraction, because the child works back from the result, and that is exactly the Grade 1 growth it is for. Within-twenty amounts keep it grounded in counting the beach things, so even the harder reasoning stays something a child can check by hand.

Change-unknown subtraction is harder than plain take-away precisely because the answer is the move, not the result — and that extra reasoning is the Grade 1 point. Keeping the numbers within twenty lets a child meet that challenge with strategies they have, counting up from the beach things that remain to the group they started with.

Children who like beach things take to the puzzle of working backward, and it suits a child ready for a little more than plain take-away. When this feels easy, try find the missing number with birds, or find the missing number with clothes. You can also browse every subtraction worksheet or the whole beach things collection for grade 1 — each sheet prints cleanly in black and white or plays online for free.