Making 10 Worksheet | Essential Grade K Math Practice

Mastering Number Pairs that Make 10

This worksheet provides focused, essential practice for kindergarteners learning the foundational math skill of making 10. Through a series of varied and engaging activities, students will build fluency in identifying and completing number pairs that sum to ten, a critical building block for future success in addition, subtraction, and place value.

At a Glance

• Grade: Kindergarten · Subject: Math
• Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.4 — Find the number that makes 10 when added to a given number.
• Skill Focus: Making 10 / Friends of Ten
• Format: 4 pages · 16 problems · Answer key included · PDF
• Best For: Foundational addition fact fluency
• Time: 10–15 minutes

What's Inside

This comprehensive four-page resource includes three distinct parts designed to build conceptual understanding. The first section uses ten frames to provide a strong visual anchor for completing equations. The second part moves students toward abstract thinking by having them fill in the missing addend. The final section is a matching game that reinforces number pair recall. The last page contains a complete answer key for quick checking and student self-assessment.

A Clear Skill Progression

The worksheet follows a proven gradual-release model to support student learning from concrete to abstract representations of making 10. This progression ensures all learners can access the material and build confidence as they move through the tasks.

• Guided Practice: The first five problems use ten frames, a key visual tool that helps students see how many more are needed to make a full set of ten.
• Supported Practice: The next six problems remove the visual scaffold, challenging students to apply their growing knowledge to complete number sentences.
• Independent Practice: The final matching activity requires students to recall the “friends of ten” from memory, demonstrating independent mastery of the number pairs.

Standards Alignment

This resource is directly aligned to Common Core standard CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.4, which requires students to find the number that makes 10 when added to a given number for any number from 1 to 9. Mastering this standard is a key indicator of early numeracy and prepares students for more complex operations in first grade and beyond. Both standard codes can be copied directly into lesson plans, IEP goals, or district curriculum mapping tools.

How to Use It

This versatile worksheet is perfect for a variety of classroom settings. Use it as a follow-up activity after a direct instruction lesson on number combinations to 10, or place it in a math center for independent practice. It also serves as an excellent piece of formative assessment data; a quick review of a completed worksheet can show which students have mastered the concept and which may need small-group reteaching. Most students will complete the worksheet in 10-15 minutes.

Who It's For

This resource is designed primarily for kindergarten students working on foundational addition skills. It is also suitable for advanced preschool learners ready for a challenge or for first-grade students who require a review of number pairs to 10. To support struggling learners, pair this worksheet with physical manipulatives like two-color counters or a Rekenrek, allowing them to build the combinations physically before writing them down.

Fluency with number combinations to 10 is one of the most critical foundations in early mathematics, directly supporting a student's ability to develop mental math strategies for addition and subtraction. This worksheet, aligned to CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.4, provides the structured practice necessary for this skill to become automatic. Research consistently shows a strong correlation between early number sense, including the rapid recall of number pairs, and long-term achievement in mathematics. By offering a scaffolded progression from concrete visuals (ten frames) to abstract equations, this resource ensures students aren't just memorizing facts but are building a conceptual understanding of how numbers compose and decompose. This type of structured, gradual-release practice is highly effective in moving students toward procedural fluency and independent problem-solving in elementary math.