Little Math Stories Addition and Subtraction Worksheet

Kids often know how to add or subtract, then freeze when the math is tucked inside a story. This printable keeps the reading short and clear with three little math stories: 14 rabbits plus 3 more, 20 apples with 15 taken away, and 3 flowers plus 15 more. The job is to read each story, notice what changed, and answer the question.

This is a good fit for a first grader who is ready to work with numbers up to 20 and can follow a short sentence problem. If reading the words takes too much energy, read the story aloud and let the math be the focus. Have them point to the number they start with, then to the number that tells what happens next.

The practice builds word-problem sense in a hands-on way. Words like “more,” “hop in,” “takes away,” and “left” help children decide whether to use addition or subtraction. They can draw quick marks, count on, count back, or use small objects to model the rabbits, apples, and flowers before writing the answer.

Sit nearby and ask, “What happened in the story?” before asking for the answer. If the teen numbers feel tricky, pause for a shorter number-building warm-up such as this make ten ten-frame worksheet, then come back to the stories. For more practice seeing how numbers fit together, try another make ten ten-frame page before making up one new story together.