From pictures to numbers
Young children understand addition as putting groups together long before they can work with symbols alone. Picture problems keep that meaning in front of them: two groups to count, then the same problem written as a number sentence. When they count confidently, switch to Numbers only.
Three steps up
- Within 5. Small groups children can see at a glance.
- Within 10. The facts that make ten, the base of later mental maths.
- Within 20. Adding to and taking from teen numbers.
Ready for more? The addition and subtraction worksheets go on to two- and three-digit numbers.
In the MOE curriculum
- K1–K2The NEL Framework asks children to name the parts that make a whole up to 10, and describes a concrete–pictorial–abstract approach.
- Primary 1Concepts of addition and subtraction, adding three or more 1-digit numbers, and mental sums within 20.
P1 children are also expected to add more than two 1-digit numbers, such as 3 + 4 + 2. This maker sets two groups, so draw a third small group by hand at the end of a row and ask which two numbers are easier to add first.
Alongside taking away, P1 uses subtraction to compare two groups: how many more? That second meaning leads into the comparison model in model drawing, so ask a “how many more” question about a few of the picture pairs too.
Summarised in our own words from the MOE Primary Mathematics Syllabus (2021, updated October 2025) and the Nurturing Early Learners Framework (2022).
