Subtraction Fun: Count and Subtract with Hands and Objects!
This worksheet introduces basic subtraction by having children count a starting group of objects and then 'take away' a smaller amount indicated by the minus sign, connecting the abstract concept of subtraction to something they can see and count. For four- to six-year-olds, visualizing subtraction as physically removing objects from a group — rather than just manipulating numbers — makes the concept concrete before they move to solving subtraction problems with numbers alone.
Part of the pack
Month 2: Learning & Development | Ages 5-6
This is page 13 of the pack. Ages 5-6 · KindergartenAges 5-6 · Year 1Ages 5-6 · UKGAges 5-6
Made for your child
Taking away within 10, made for your child
A maths pack with your child's name in it: pictures that explain, practice at three levels, puzzles and story sums about them. Print a new set whenever they finish.
Make a maths packFree preview · free for members
Curriculum
- Subtraction > Subtraction Basics
How to use this worksheet
Have your child count the total number of objects in the first group and say the number aloud. Point out the minus sign and the number next to it, explaining that this many objects need to be 'taken away.' Have them cross out or cover that many objects with a finger, then count how many are left. Have them write the remaining number in the answer box, and repeat for each subtraction problem on the page.
Materials needed
- Pencil
- Eraser
Extension activities
- 1Use real objects, like toys or snacks, to physically act out taking some away and counting what's left.
- 2Draw your own subtraction problems using simple pictures your child can cross out.
- 3Play a quick oral game: start with a number of claps and 'take away' a few, asking how many are left.
- 4Use a number line to hop backward the number of spaces being subtracted.
- 5Act out a simple story problem, like '5 birds on a branch, 2 fly away,' using your hands as birds.
Written by
Hemsweta Jain · Teacher Cheena
MBA and Early Childhood Educator, teaching since 2014 · Founder of RaisoActive, Mumbai
Every RaisoActive worksheet is designed and checked by the founder before publishing.
Published · Last reviewed
More from Month 2: Learning & Development | Ages 5-6
Parent's Guide: Fun Activities for Early Learning
Ages 3-5 · Preschool–Pre-KAges 3-5 · Nursery–ReceptionAges 3-5 · Nursery–LKGAges 3-5
This parent guide bundles four hands-on activities covering sentence building, subtraction, number comparison, and food sorting, designed for children ages 3-5 to practice early literacy and numeracy through tactile, real-world materials like natural loose parts and playdough. Rotating between language and math tasks in one sitting helps children see connections between counting, comparing, and describing the world around them, rather than treating each subject in isolation.
Sight Word 'HE' Worksheet: Trace, Color, and Practice!
Ages 3-5 · Preschool–Pre-KAges 3-5 · Nursery–ReceptionAges 3-5 · Nursery–LKGAges 3-5
This worksheet helps children ages 3-5 learn to recognize, write, and use the sight word 'HE' in simple sentences, giving repeated exposure to a short, high-frequency word that appears in nearly every early reader book. Practicing the word across six different formats, tracing, coloring, circling, writing, filling in, and cutting and pasting, builds recognition through many different types of practice in one sitting.
Sight Word 'THE' Worksheet: Trace, Write, and Identify!
Ages 4-5 · Pre-KAges 4-5 · ReceptionAges 4-5 · LKGAges 4-5
This worksheet builds automatic recognition of the sight word 'the,' one of the most frequently occurring words in English text, through repeated tracing, writing, and identification practice. For four- and five-year-olds, memorizing high-frequency sight words like 'the' by sight — rather than sounding them out each time — is essential for building reading fluency, since these words appear on nearly every page a child will read.
3 Letter Words Worksheet: Identify and Color!
Ages 3-5 · Preschool–Pre-KAges 3-5 · Nursery–ReceptionAges 3-5 · Nursery–LKGAges 3-5
This worksheet helps children ages 3-5 identify and recognize simple three-letter words by matching pictures to their written word and then completing each word by filling in a missing vowel. Working with short, consistent words like these builds the beginning reading skills that let children start decoding independently.
Alligator Comparison Worksheet: Greater Than, Less Than, and Equal To!
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This worksheet teaches children ages 4-6 to compare two numbers using the 'hungry alligator' mnemonic, where the alligator's mouth always opens toward the larger number. Understanding greater than, less than, and equal to is an essential building block for later place value, ordering, and basic algebra concepts.
Frame Sentences Worksheet: Fill-in-the-Blanks with Pictures!
Ages 4-5 · Pre-KAges 4-5 · ReceptionAges 4-5 · LKGAges 4-5
Children ages 4-5 practice connecting spoken vocabulary to written words as they use picture clues to fill in missing words within a sentence frame. This builds early sentence construction and reinforces that a sentence needs the right word in the right place to make sense, a stepping stone toward independent writing.
Plants and Animals Needs Worksheet for Kids
Ages 3-5 · Preschool–Pre-KAges 3-5 · Nursery–ReceptionAges 3-5 · Nursery–LKGAges 3-5
This worksheet introduces the basic science concept that living things — both plants and animals — share fundamental needs like food, water, air, and shelter to survive and grow. For three- to five-year-olds, sorting pictures by which need they represent builds early categorization skills while planting the foundation for later biology lessons about what makes something alive.
Trace and Write Numbers 11-15: Counting and Writing Worksheet
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This worksheet helps children ages 4-6 practice tracing and writing the number words from eleven to fifteen, moving beyond single-digit numbers into the trickier teen range where number names don't always follow an obvious pattern. Matching the number of dots on dice to the correct written number name also reinforces that these longer number words still represent a specific countable quantity.
Related worksheets
3-Digit Subtraction Worksheet for Kids
Ages 5-7 · Kindergarten–Grade 1Ages 5-7 · Year 1–Year 2Ages 5-7 · UKG–Class 1Ages 5-7
Subtracting three-digit numbers introduces children to borrowing, or regrouping, across place value columns, a more demanding skill than simple subtraction since it requires understanding that a ten can be 'broken' into ones when a column doesn't have enough to subtract from. For ages five to seven, this worksheet builds the procedural foundation for confident multi-digit subtraction going forward.
Subtraction Worksheet: Count and Subtract!
Ages 4-5 · Pre-KAges 4-5 · ReceptionAges 4-5 · LKGAges 4-5
This worksheet gives children ages 4-5 hands-on practice with subtraction as 'taking away' from a visible group, helping them understand that a number decreases when items are removed rather than treating subtraction as an abstract symbol on paper. Counting the starting group and then physically crossing out or covering objects before writing the difference builds the concrete number sense that later supports mental subtraction.
Subtraction Game Worksheet for Kids: Fun Math Practice!
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This board-game style worksheet gives children ages 4-6 repeated, low-pressure practice solving subtraction problems as they move along a path with ladders and slides. Framing subtraction as a game keeps motivation high while children build fluency taking away from small numbers and reading the results instantly. The ladders and slides also add a playful lesson in following game rules and consequences.
Subtraction Worksheet: Find the Row with Matching Answers!
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This worksheet pushes subtraction practice a step further for children ages 4-6 by having them solve several subtraction problems and then compare the answers across different rows to find matches, adding a layer of number-sense reasoning on top of basic calculation. Recognizing that two different subtraction problems can produce the same answer helps children understand that numbers can be reached in more than one way, which is an important early step toward flexible mathematical thinking. This kind of comparison task also builds attention to detail, since a child has to solve every problem accurately before the matching rows can be found.
Subtraction Fun: Cut and Paste the Answers!
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This worksheet grounds subtraction in something concrete for children ages 4-6 by having them count visual object groups, subtract, and then physically select and paste the correct numeral answer from a set of choices. Counting objects before subtracting keeps the math anchored in real quantities rather than abstract numerals alone, which is exactly the kind of support young learners need before they're ready for purely symbolic subtraction. The cut-and-paste answer selection also adds a layer of verification, since your child has to search through several numeral options to find the one that truly matches their calculated answer.
Subtraction Fun: Count and Subtract with Cute Animals!
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
Counting a group of animal pictures and then crossing out or removing a specified number teaches children ages 4-6 the concept of subtraction as taking away from a starting quantity, which is easier to grasp visually than through numbers alone. Writing the remaining total after the take-away step reinforces that subtraction results in a smaller, specific number, connecting the physical act of removing objects to a written numeral. Using cute animal pictures as the countable objects keeps a potentially tricky math concept approachable and fun.
Subtraction Worksheet: Counting and Subtracting for Preschoolers
Ages 4-5 · Pre-KAges 4-5 · ReceptionAges 4-5 · LKGAges 4-5
This worksheet introduces children ages 4-5 to the concept of subtraction as 'taking away' by having them count a group of objects, cross out the number indicated, and write how many remain. Building this concrete, visual understanding of subtraction before introducing abstract number sentences helps children grasp what the minus sign actually means rather than just memorizing a procedure.
Subtraction Fun: Counting and Subtracting Worksheet for Kids
Ages 4-6 · Pre-K–KindergartenAges 4-6 · Reception–Year 1Ages 4-6 · LKG–UKGAges 4-6
This worksheet teaches children ages 4-6 the concept of subtraction by having them count a group of stars, cross out a specified number, and write how many remain — making the abstract idea of 'taking away' visible and countable rather than purely symbolic. Physically crossing out objects before writing the answer helps children understand subtraction as an action, which is more intuitive at this age than memorizing subtraction facts.
Guides for this topic
Number Formation Rhymes 0–9 and How to Fix Reversals
Original number formation rhymes for 0–9, the correct stroke order for each digit, why 3, 5 and 7 get reversed most often, and multisensory fixes that work.
Coding Activities for Preschoolers: Building Tomorrow's Thinkers Today
Discover 15+ unplugged and screen-based coding activities for preschoolers that build sequencing, logic, and problem-solving skills through play. NEP 2020 aligned.
Christmas and Winter Activities That Combine Fun and Learning: Creating Magical Educational Experiences
Discover Christmas and winter activities that combine festive fun with real learning. Crafts, counting, literacy, and printable worksheets for ages 2 to 8 — perfect for home and school.
Reviews
Every worksheet for ages 4–6, no watermark
Members download the full library of 1,000+ worksheets and every activity pack without watermarks or daily limits. One year costs ₹999 in India or $20 elsewhere.
See membership plansOr download any worksheet free with a watermark (5 a day).