How to play Missing Addend

  1. Look at the addition with a number missing, such as 9 + ? = 12.
  2. Work out which number fills the gap.
  3. Tap that number from the five tiles below.
  4. A right answer fills the gap and scores; a wrong one counts against you, and the next sum appears.

For parents and teachers

This is the addition facts asked backwards, with every sum between 2 and 18. A child who knows 9 + 3 = 12 can see the gap must be 3; a child who has to count up from 9 is still building the fact. Asking the question this way is the start of fact families (9 + 3, 3 + 9, 12 − 3, 12 − 9) and of the thinking used to solve simple equations later on.