Little Math Stories Worksheet

Five-year-olds can follow a story one minute and lose track of the numbers the next. This printable keeps the work small: three picture stories about apples, frogs, and flowers. The first and third stories use adding more, and the frog story uses taking away, so the child practices noticing what happens before writing an answer.

This page is a good fit when a child can count small groups and is starting to connect story words to simple math actions. If reading the sentences slows things down, read them aloud together. Have the child listen for the starting number, the change, and the question at the end.

Work through one story at a time. Ask, “What do we know first?” then “What changed?” For the apples, there are 2 apples and Sam adds 5 more, making 7. For the frogs, there are 8 frogs and 7 jump away, leaving 1. For the flowers, there are 4 flowers and Mia puts in 5 more, making 9.

If your child needs something to touch, use fingers, buttons, cereal pieces, or small blocks to act out each story before writing the answer. After this page, try the Make Ten Ten Frames Worksheet to keep building addition within ten with a visual model. For a counting and comparison break, the Bigger Smaller Equal Groups Worksheet helps children compare groups before coming back to story problems.