Max Rescues the Sand Castle: Adding Tens Challenge

About this Grade 1 Adding Multiples Of 10 Drill

Adding multiples of 10 is a cornerstone skill that helps first graders recognize patterns in our number system and builds confidence with larger numbers. When children grasp that 20 + 30 is really just 2 tens plus 3 tens, they're developing number sense—the ability to understand quantities flexibly rather than relying on counting on their fingers every time. This skill appears everywhere in daily life: counting coins, organizing toys into groups of 10, or tracking scores. Mastering it now prevents frustration later when students encounter two-digit addition and subtraction. The cognitive leap happens when children realize they don't need to count by ones; they can skip-count by tens instead. This worksheet gives your child the repeated practice needed to make that mental shortcut automatic, freeing up brainpower for more complex math thinking.

What your student will practice

• Recognize and add multiples of 10 without counting by ones
• Connect tens bundles to addition facts with larger numbers
• Apply skip-counting by 10s to solve horizontal and vertical problems
• Build fluency recognizing the tens place pattern in sums

Common mistakes to watch for

Many first graders add the tens digits correctly but then forget the zero at the end, writing 5 instead of 50, or they revert to counting by ones because that feels safer. Watch for children who line up 20 + 30 vertically and add them like single digits (2 + 3 = 5), forgetting the place value entirely. Another red flag is when a student counts 20, 21, 22, 23... instead of 20, 30, 40, 50. If you see these patterns, the child likely needs more concrete practice—using actual objects grouped into tens before moving to the abstract symbols.