Making 10 with ten frames (1 addend missing)

Before handing out the worksheet, briefly introduce the concept with a short oral warm-up or a visual model on the board. Encourage students to talk through their thinking as they work: "What strategy are you using? How do you know that is right?" After completing the worksheet, review any missed problems together and discuss the reasoning rather than just the answer. For extra support, let students use manipulatives or draw pictures alongside the written problems. These ten frames worksheets work well as daily practice, homework, or a focused review activity.

These ten frames worksheets for 1st grade give students the structured, hands-on practice they need to build confidence and fluency. Students work through a range of problem formats, from visual models and diagrams to written equations and word problems, so they encounter ten frames from every angle. Each worksheet is designed to build on prior knowledge while introducing the level of challenge appropriate for 1st grade. Practicing ten frames at this stage strengthens the mathematical foundations that support more advanced concepts in later grades.

"Making 10 with ten frames (1 addend missing) - Celebration" is written for 1st Grade (Ages 6-7), and it covers Common Core 1.NBT.B.2. If your little one is a year younger but already steady on counting, the page still works. You may just need to read the instructions out loud. And if they are older and ten frames never quite stuck, this is a short review rather than busywork.

Yes, both. We made it for 1st Grade counting, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with ten frames. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

A grid of ten boxes, two rows of five, filled from the top left. Its value is that amounts become recognizable shapes: a full top row is always five, and eight always looks like a full row plus three. Children start seeing quantities instead of counting them one at a time.

Part of the frame is filled and your child works out how many more are needed to make 10. Because the empty boxes are visible, the answer can be seen before it is counted, which is exactly the bridge from counting to knowing.

Our number system is built on tens, so the pairs that make 10 turn up everywhere later. A child who knows 6 and 4 instantly can handle 16 plus 4, and later 26 plus 4, without counting. It is one of the highest value facts to have automatic.