11Free First Grade Addition Worksheets That Teach Strategies

Eleven free first grade addition worksheets arranged the way the skills actually build: see the numbers in a ten-frame, learn the two strategies that do most of the work, get fluent, then meet addition in columns and in stories.

In this roundup

The full list

  1. Ten-Frame Addition Worksheet: Red and Yellow Counters
  2. Make Ten Worksheet: Missing Addend Addition, Grade 1
  3. Doubles Plus One: First Grade Addition Worksheet
  4. Add Three Numbers: First Grade Addition Worksheet
  5. Add 10 More: First Grade Addition Worksheet
  6. Vertical Addition Worksheet: Column Math for Grade 1
  7. S'more Addition Worksheet: Camping Math for Grade 1
  8. Hot Air Balloon Color by Sum Addition Worksheet
  9. Color by Sum Butterfly Addition Worksheet (Grade 1)
  10. Addition Word Problems Worksheet With Pictures
  11. First Grade Addition Story Problems Worksheet

Addition in first grade is less about drilling facts than about collecting a few strategies that make the facts easy. A child who can make ten and knows their doubles can reason out most of what is on this page, which is why those two sheets sit near the front rather than buried behind pages of practice.

The order above is a progression, not a schedule. Skip anything your child already owns, and go back a step whenever a sheet turns into a struggle rather than a stretch. Every worksheet here is a free printable PDF, no account and no signup, and nine of the eleven print in plain black and white if you are running off a class set.

01

Ten-Frame Addition Worksheet: Red and Yellow Counters

Concrete start · 10 minutes · Grade 1
Ten-Frame Addition Worksheet: Red and Yellow Counters worksheet preview

Six ten-frames filled with red and yellow counters, and under each one a blank sentence with three spaces: how many red, how many yellow, how many in all. Splits run from a full frame of 5 and 5 down to 2 and 4, and no total passes 10.

Why it works Writing the number sentence from a picture is the step that turns counting into addition. The frame lets a child see the quantity instead of counting dot by dot.
02

Make Ten Worksheet: Missing Addend Addition, Grade 1

Foundation · 10 minutes · Grade 1
Make Ten Worksheet: Missing Addend Addition, Grade 1 worksheet preview

The same frames, but now partly empty and paired with a gap in the middle of the sentence: 6 + ___ = 10, then 3, 8, 1, 5 and 7. The answer is sitting there in the blank squares, waiting to be counted.

Why it works Making ten is what lets a child later break 8 + 5 into 8 + 2 + 3. It is also a useful first look at an unknown that is not at the end of the sentence.
03

Doubles Plus One: First Grade Addition Worksheet

Strategy · 15 minutes · Grade 1
Doubles Plus One: First Grade Addition Worksheet worksheet preview

Eight boxes, each pairing a doubles fact with the same fact plus one: 2 + 2 above 2 + 3, all the way up to 9 + 9 above 9 + 10. Sixteen problems, and the pairing is the entire lesson.

Why it works Doubles are usually the first facts a child truly knows. This roughly doubles that store overnight, because 7 + 8 is just 7 + 7 and one more.
04

Add Three Numbers: First Grade Addition Worksheet

Strategy · 15 minutes · Grade 1
Add Three Numbers: First Grade Addition Worksheet worksheet preview

Twelve problems with three addends, every one hiding a pair that makes ten. Some pairs sit together, as in 2 + 8 + 3. Others are split apart, as in 7 + 3 + 6, which is the harder and more useful case.

Why it works This is where making ten pays off. The real lesson is that addends can be rearranged, which turns a three-step problem into a one-step problem.
05

Add 10 More: First Grade Addition Worksheet

Place value · 10 minutes · Grade 1
Add 10 More: First Grade Addition Worksheet worksheet preview

Twelve problems that add ten to numbers ranging from 5 up to 62. The ten sometimes comes first and sometimes second, so a child cannot answer on autopilot.

Why it works It is the sheet where adding ten stops being counting and becomes a pattern: only the tens digit moves. That carries most of the mental math in first grade.
06

Vertical Addition Worksheet: Column Math for Grade 1

New format · 10 minutes · Grade 1
Vertical Addition Worksheet: Column Math for Grade 1 worksheet preview

Twelve familiar facts, from 6 + 4 up to 8 + 8, rewritten the tall way with one number above the other and a rule underneath for the sum.

Why it works The switch to columns throws children who already know the facts. Getting comfortable now matters, because every larger problem from second grade onward arrives in this form.
07

S'more Addition Worksheet: Camping Math for Grade 1

Fluency · 15 minutes · Grade 1
S'more Addition Worksheet: Camping Math for Grade 1 worksheet preview

Twenty-one mixed problems with sums up to 18, framed by a tent, a campfire and a border of pine trees. The facts are deliberately unsorted, so 6 + 4 sits a few lines from 8 + 8.

Use it as The mileage sheet, once the strategies are in place and a child just needs practice. Prints in black and white, so a class set is cheap.
08

Hot Air Balloon Color by Sum Addition Worksheet

Practice and color · 20 minutes · Grade 1
Hot Air Balloon Color by Sum Addition Worksheet worksheet preview

A striped hot air balloon with a problem in every band, plus clouds, a sun and a basket. The key sets 8 to red, 10 to blue, 12 to yellow and 14 to green, and several friendly doubles turn up to give a child an easy start.

Why it works The key makes the sheet self-checking. A sum that is not one of the four colors is a signal to go back, with nobody marking the page.
09

Color by Sum Butterfly Addition Worksheet (Grade 1)

Practice and color · 20 minutes · Grade 1
Color by Sum Butterfly Addition Worksheet (Grade 1) worksheet preview

A butterfly with four open wing panels among three daisies, ten problems in all, colored by a key of 6, 8, 12 and 14. Same idea as the balloon, different picture and a fresh set of facts.

Best for The second day on color by sum, or the child who finished the balloon and immediately asked for another one.
10

Addition Word Problems Worksheet With Pictures

Application · 15 minutes · Grade 1
Addition Word Problems Worksheet With Pictures worksheet preview

Four word problems in framed panels, each with a picture beside it: a balloon, a fish, a flower and a toy car. Every panel ends with a blank number sentence, and sums reach 13.

Why it works The picture tells a child what the story is about before they decode a word, which keeps a shaky reader in the math rather than stuck on the page.
11

First Grade Addition Story Problems Worksheet

Application · 15 minutes · Grade 1
First Grade Addition Story Problems Worksheet worksheet preview

The same thinking with no picture to lean on. Four stories in large plain type, apples and birds and stickers and blocks, each followed by a blank number sentence to fill in.

Finish here Plenty of first graders who answer 8 + 7 instantly will stall when the same question arrives in a sentence. Reading it aloud once, then handing over the pencil, is usually all it takes.

One more thing.

If your kids finish a unit and you're not sure what to do next, my honest advice: don't move on yet. Spend a week mixing these in as warm-ups. Fluency isn't a unit, it's a habit, and the sheet that builds it is usually the one they ask to do again.

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