One maker for every step
- Within 10. The facts children learn first, a whole sheet at a time.
- Within 20. Sums that cross ten, like 8 + 5 and 7 + 6.
- Two digits, no regrouping. Add the ones, then the tens.
- Two digits with regrouping. Ten ones make a ten: carry it to the next column.
- Three digits. The same steps with hundreds.
Stacked or in a row
Stacked problems line the digits up in columns, the way children learn written addition with regrouping. Problems in a row (47 + 25 = ___) suit mental maths and fact practice. Both come with an answer key.
More addition
For younger children, picture addition has groups of pictures to count before the number sentence. For taking away, the subtraction worksheets work the same way, with or without borrowing.
Irish curriculum links
- InfantsStage 1 of Sets and operations: children see what happens to a quantity when sets are joined or split, often shown as a move along a number line or 100 square.
- 1st–2nd ClassAt Stage 2 children choose and show a range of addition strategies, and learn that tens and units sometimes have to be exchanged.
- 3rd–4th ClassStage 3 asks for flexible use of all four operations, so written addition of bigger numbers sits beside multiplication and division.
The Primary Mathematics Curriculum (2023) places addition in the Number strand, under the strand unit Sets and operations. Irish teachers often say “exchange” where other countries say carry, and the NCCA toolkit talks about exchanging tens for units. The idea is the same as the regrouping on these sheets.
The curriculum puts strategies ahead of one fixed method, so expect children in 1st and 2nd Class to explain how they added: doubles, near doubles, or starting from the bigger number. A short sheet of stacked sums works well once they can say what each column is worth.
Summarised in our own words from the Primary Mathematics Curriculum (2023) and the NCCA Mathematics Toolkit.
