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This Subtraction With Borrowing drill has 40 problems for Grade 2. Little Artists theme. Answer key included.
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Max's paint palette fell! He must solve subtraction problems to collect all 32 scattered paintbrushes before art class ends.
Standard: CCSS.MATH.2.NBT.B.5
Subtraction-with-borrowing (also called regrouping) is a crucial turning point in your child's math journey. At age 7-8, students move beyond simple subtraction facts to solving real problems like "I have 23 stickers and give away 8—how many are left?" Without borrowing, they get stuck. This skill teaches children that numbers can be broken apart and recombined, a foundational concept for all future math. When a second grader masters regrouping, they're not just learning a procedure—they're developing flexible thinking about place value and building confidence with two-digit problems. This directly supports the Common Core expectation that Grade 2 students fluently add and subtract within 20, and solve word problems involving two-digit numbers. The mental stamina and strategic thinking they build here transfers to multiplication, division, and algebra later on.
The most common error is forgetting to reduce the tens digit after borrowing. For example, with 32 − 15, a student borrows correctly (making 12 ones) but then subtracts 1 ten from 3 tens and gets 2, writing 27 instead of 17. Watch for students who attempt borrowing but don't decrease the top tens digit—their final answer will be 10 too high. Another frequent mistake is trying to subtract the larger digit from the smaller without borrowing at all, yielding nonsensical negatives or switched answers.
Play a store game using real coins or a toy cash register. Give your child a two-digit amount (like 35 cents) and have them "buy" an item that costs a number requiring borrowing (like 18 cents). Have them count out the change by physically regrouping a dime into pennies—this concrete experience shows why borrowing works. Repeat with different prices weekly, and gradually move to pencil-and-paper recording of what they did with the coins. Even little artists can draw the coins they're using to make the connection between the physical action and the written math.