Taking away

Take some out of the pile and count what is left behind.

The question

You have 5 biscuits. You eat 2. How many are left?

The trick

Taking away means removing some from the pile and counting only what stays. Let your child actually move the objects away — the moving is the lesson.

Worked example

1Put 5 biscuits on the table. Count them together.
2Move 2 of them away, right off to one side.
3Now count only what is still in front of you: one, two, three.

So: 3

Remember it like this

Take away, then count what stayed. The ones that left are not part of the answer.

In the exam

If your child finds this hard, that is completely normal and expected at this age — subtraction lands months after addition for almost every child. Go back to objects and stay there as long as it takes.

Why it works

Subtraction is much harder than addition for a young child, because nothing new appears — something disappears. Physically moving objects away makes that invisible idea visible.

Explain this to my childGet the words to teach it, in your language

Try it yourself

0/4 correct

1
5 − 2 = ?
5 − 2 = ?
2
4 − 1 = ?
4 − 1 = ?
3
6 − 3 = ?
6 − 3 = ?
4
3 − 3 = ?
3 − 3 = ?