Ten Frame Draw: a math activity for kids

Need a simple activity to practice basic math facts with your kids? This simple activity (with supplies I know you have on hand) is easy, fun, and full of good math practice!

Skip the boring flashcards and the endless digital games (neither produce long term results in my experience and research!). Instead, practice facts with an activity like this that focuses on numbers within ten!

What you Need:

You just need three things:

A deck of playing cards: I remove the face cards, just using the numbers 1-10.
An empty egg carton: Cut off the last two slots, so you just have TEN, like in the image above!
Ten small items: We used pom pom balls, but you cam also use beads, small candies, pennies, or any other small items.

Easy adaptation for younger children: Make it a “Five Frame Draw” and just use five slots on the egg carton and the numbers 1-5!

How to Play:

Have your child draw a playing card and represent the number on their egg carton “ten frame”. Already, they are making visual representations for the number and seeing how it relates to ten, which is good for number fluency!

Then, draw another card. This next step is important: Have them remove or add pompoms to show the new number.

Don’t just let them take them all out and count out the new number! Why do this?

They will have to rely on figuring out how many more to add or take away from the starting number.

For instance, if they have a “5” on their ten frame and then draw a “3”, they have to think: What do I need to do to show 3? And then take two from the five to get three. Make sense?