Number bonds to ten printable for base ten unit blocks - NurtureStore (2024)

Use this Number Bonds to Ten printable to help your children see number patterns in our base ten system, and invite them to use blocks to build all the ways to add up to ten.

Number bonds to ten printable for base ten unit blocks

Children need to see real, concrete maths before they they can move on to do abstract mental maths in their head. We can support these early maths skills by offering them lots of hands-on math activities that invite them to use real objects to explore relationships between numbers.

This bright and colourful number bonds to ten game combines the fun of building with blocks with counting and addition skills. Playing with blocks is also a great way to support the development of fine motor skills.

The printable encourages children to:

:: recognise digits

:: use blocks to build a chain to correspond to a given number

:: see number patterns

:: learn about increasing and decreasing number sequences

:: become familiar with our base-ten number system

:: become familiar with the number bonds that make ten

:: work on addition skills, adding up to ten

:: develop fine motor skills as they build their towers

Materials needed:

:: I Can Make Ten printable (see below)

:: blocks, buttons, pegs or other counters

Print the play mats on card to avoid the need to laminate them – less plastic!

How to use this number bonds to ten printable

Print the I Can Make Ten cards (see below) and set them out along with your blocks or counters.

Show your child how the cards count up to ten.

Use blocks or other counters on top of the printed card to count up to ten.

You might begin by building a tower of blocks with one block on the top row, two on the second, three on the third etc, as in the photograph above.

Children can also work along the lines of the grid to make ten. This way, they are learning which pairs of numbers, or number bonds, go together to add up to ten.

1 + 9

2 + 8

3 + 7

4 + 6

5 + 5

10 + 0

Coloured blocks work well here.

For example, begin with one pink block. How many blue blocks do you need to add to make a link of ten blocks?

Build all the rows to show all the ways you can pair up numbers to make ten.

Join two blocks in one colour. How many blocks of another colour do you need to add to make ten in total?

Then, join three blocks in one colour. How many blocks of another colour do you need to add to make ten in total?

Working in this hands-on way gives children a clear, visual representation of the number pairs that can be added up to make ten.

Ask them what they notice about the lines of blocks they are making. Perhaps they will see the pattern of increasing and decreasing colour blocks along the lines. As we add one number to one side, we need one less block on the other side.

Variations to work on number bonds to ten

You can also cut out the rows of this printable to give you a set of number bonds cards to play with.

(Print out two copies of the printable to make it easier for you to cut out and keep the blue border around each row.)

Set out these number cards with small pegs and invite your children to complete each row.

How many pegs do they need to clip on to fill up the row to a total of ten?

If they have already used the cards with the blocks, as above, and are familiar with the number bond pairs, maybe they can begin to know how many pegs they need to pair up without having to count them.

They might like to set a timer and race to complete the cards as fast as you can!

Finger gyms to develop fine motor skills

Working with clip-able blocks and with pegs is an excellent workout for fine motor skills, making this printable a great one to use in a finger gym or fine motor skills centre.

More hands-on math activities and printables

For more hands-on math ideas try:

::our printable number wheels

::monster math game

::2D / 3D printing activity

:: number towers with blocks printable