Six boxes from a bake shop, each holding a row of treats and a subtraction problem underneath. The child counts the treats, crosses out the ones that get eaten, and writes how many are left: 7 − 3 cupcakes, 9 − 4 cookies, 5 − 2 donuts.
Crossing out real things is what subtraction means before it is anything else, so this is the right place to start. The numbers in each problem match the picture exactly, which lets a child check the first number by counting before taking anything away.
The lollipop box is 5 − 5, which quietly introduces the idea that taking everything away leaves zero. Once the counting is done, the treats are all line art, ready to color.