Taking things away

Mathematics · Addition & Subtraction · ages 4-6

Name ______________________ Date ____________

5 birds sit on the wall. 2 birds fly away. How many birds are still on the wall? Write the number.
Answer: ______________
There are 4 biscuits on the plate. Sam eats 1 biscuit. How many biscuits are left?
- 5
- 4
- 2
- 3
You have 4 hearts. You take away 1. How many are left?
- 2
- 3
- 4
Subtraction means putting more things into a group.
Circle one: True False
There are 7 balloons. 2 balloons pop. How many balloons are left? Write the number.
Answer: ______________
Which one shows taking away?
- Putting 2 more stars into the group
- Taking 2 stars out of the group
- Counting the same star twice
Ann has 6 crayons. She gives 3 crayons to Ben. How many crayons does Ann have now?
- 3
- 5
- 4
- 2
Kim has 6 blocks and takes all 6 away. She says 1 is left. Is Kim right?
Circle one: True False
Ben had 6 apples. He ate 2. He said 8 apples are left. What went wrong?
- He added instead of taking away
- He counted one apple twice
- He forgot to eat an apple
9 cars are in the car park. 3 cars drive away. How many cars are still there? Write the number.
Answer: ______________

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

3 · Take 2 away from 5 to get 3.
3 · Take 1 away from 4 to get 3.
3 · 4 hearts, take away 1, leaves 3 hearts.
False · Subtraction means taking some away, not adding more.
5 · Take 2 away from 7 to get 5.
Taking 2 stars out of the group · Taking away means some things leave the group.
3 · Take 3 away from 6 to get 3.
False · Kim is wrong: 6 take away 6 leaves 0.
He added instead of taking away · Taking away makes the group smaller, not bigger. Ben added by mistake.
6 · Take 3 away from 9 to get 6.