How do I get my child to stop counting on his fingers?

Do not ban the fingers; remove the need for them. Fingers persist where facts are unknown, so take a narrow band, such as the pairs that make ten or the doubles, and drill only those orally until they are instant. As facts become automatic the fingers fall away without being mentioned. Banning them first produces slower, more anxious guessing and hides which facts are actually missing.

Should addition facts be memorized or worked out?

Both, in that order. A child should first be able to derive a fact from a strategy he understands, because that gives him a way back when memory fails him mid-problem. Once the strategy is reliable, plain repetition turns it into recall, which is what frees his attention for multi-digit work later. Memorizing first, with nothing underneath it, produces facts that vanish over a long summer.

How many minutes of fact practice a day?

Five to ten minutes daily beats forty minutes twice a week. The gains here come from frequency rather than session length, and short sessions keep the work pleasant, which matters more than parents expect. Split it if you like, with a few pairs at breakfast and a few in the car. Stop while he is still answering well, not at the point where he is tired and wrong.

What order should addition facts be taught in?

Add one and add two first, then doubles, then the pairs that make ten, then near doubles, then the make-ten strategy for facts such as eight and five, then whatever remains. Each group is small and gives a visible win. Teaching in numerical order, all the fours and then all the fives, sounds tidy but bundles together facts that have nothing useful in common.

How to Teach Addition — Readiness, Practice, Mastery

Addition joins two known parts to find the whole. Children pass through three stages: counting everything from one, counting on from the larger part, and finally recalling the fact. Most home addition trouble is a child stuck in the first stage. The repair is not more pages but ten minutes a day on ten-frames, doubles, and the pairs that make ten.

Three stages, and the one most children get stuck in

Given six and three, a beginner lays out six counters, lays out three more, and counts the whole line from one. That is correct and it is slow. The next stage is counting on: hold six in your head and say seven, eight, nine. The last is knowing that six and three make nine with no counting at all. A child still counting all from one late in first grade is not lazy; nobody has shown him that the first number can be trusted.

The strategies that carry a child into recall are small and specific: doubles, near doubles, where six and seven is double six and one more, make-ten, where eight and five becomes eight and two and three, and the fact that four and seven give the same total as seven and four. Teach one at a time and give it two weeks, not a morning.

The shape of a daily addition session

Keep it short and the same shape every day. Oral work comes first, because a pencil slows a child down and hides which facts he actually owns, and written work comes last, so the page records something already secure. Do not introduce a new strategy on the same day you are pushing an older one for speed; one of the two will be lost.

Two minutes, oral: "What makes ten with seven?" Run the pairs to ten out of order until they are quick.
Three minutes, objects: two bowls and a handful of counters. Six in one, three in the other. "Six. Now count on: seven, eight, nine."
Two minutes on the strategy of the week, doubles or make-ten, built on a ten-frame.
Two minutes of mixed oral facts, including several he already owns.
One minute written: five problems, no timer.

What to use before you print anything

A pair of dice, a deck of cards with the picture cards removed, a set of dominoes, and a ten-frame drawn on an index card cover the whole of early addition. Each player turns two cards and adds, and the higher total takes the pair. A domino settles the question of what addition is faster than any explanation, because two parts and one whole are already sitting in a single object. Fill the ten-frame with eight beans and the two empty spaces tell you exactly what is missing.

Signs it is solid, and signs it is not

Solid addition sounds quick and quiet. He answers in about the time it takes to say the answer, usually without moving, and when a fact escapes him he reaches for a strategy, saying that seven and seven is fourteen so seven and eight is fifteen, instead of starting again at one. He can also point to the two parts inside the whole when you ask him to.

He counts on his fingers for every fact, months after those facts were introduced.
He counts everything from one whenever the numbers are unfamiliar.
He answers 6 + 7 correctly today and cannot do it tomorrow.
He cannot say what makes ten with a given number without counting.
He writes 5 + 3 = 53, which means the equals sign has not yet been taught as balance.

If he cannot get off counting

Drop to totals of five or less with counters in two bowls, and ask the missing-part question instead of the total question: there are five altogether and three here, so how many are under the cup. That one question builds addition and subtraction at the same time. Then rebuild to ten on a ten-frame, then the pairs that make ten, then doubles, and only then go past ten. An older child who is behind on facts uses the same order at the same pace.

How long addition facts take

Facts within ten usually become reliable between the middle of kindergarten and the middle of first grade. Facts within twenty commonly take all of first grade and part of second. Two-digit addition with regrouping belongs to second grade and depends on place value rather than on more fact drill, so if it stalls there, look at tens and ones before adding another page of sums.

First, your child should already…

This skill builds directly on:

Numbers and Counting — master this first.

What your child is learning

Addition teaches a child to compose numbers: two or more parts can be joined into a whole. Strong addition work moves from concrete models to efficient strategies.

Signs your child is ready

Counts forward accurately
Understands part and whole
Can represent a number with objects or drawings

The common stumbling point

Counting all from one every time instead of using known parts, make-ten, doubles, or place-value strategies.

Practice this skill

Worksheets and decodable practice for Addition are in the library.

Kindergarten — Addition as Joining 174 worksheets
Grade 1 — Addition Facts 20 worksheets
Grade 2 — Addition Facts 20 worksheets
Grade 3 — Addition Facts 20 worksheets
Grade 4 — Addition Facts 20 worksheets
Grade 5 — Addition Facts 20 worksheets

Every set opens its first three worksheets to everyone; the rest are included with All Access.

Browse the whole practice library

How to know it’s mastered

The child solves grade-level addition problems accurately and can show the parts that make the whole.

Common questions

How do I get my child to stop counting on his fingers?: Do not ban the fingers; remove the need for them. Fingers persist where facts are unknown, so take a narrow band, such as the pairs that make ten or the doubles, and drill only those orally until they are instant. As facts become automatic the fingers fall away without being mentioned. Banning them first produces slower, more anxious guessing and hides which facts are actually missing.
Should addition facts be memorized or worked out?: Both, in that order. A child should first be able to derive a fact from a strategy he understands, because that gives him a way back when memory fails him mid-problem. Once the strategy is reliable, plain repetition turns it into recall, which is what frees his attention for multi-digit work later. Memorizing first, with nothing underneath it, produces facts that vanish over a long summer.
How many minutes of fact practice a day?: Five to ten minutes daily beats forty minutes twice a week. The gains here come from frequency rather than session length, and short sessions keep the work pleasant, which matters more than parents expect. Split it if you like, with a few pairs at breakfast and a few in the car. Stop while he is still answering well, not at the point where he is tired and wrong.
What order should addition facts be taught in?: Add one and add two first, then doubles, then the pairs that make ten, then near doubles, then the make-ten strategy for facts such as eight and five, then whatever remains. Each group is small and gives a visible win. Teaching in numerical order, all the fours and then all the fives, sounds tidy but bundles together facts that have nothing useful in common.

What comes next

Once this is solid, move on to:

Subtraction →

Once this is solid, move on to:

Place Value →