For a young child, subtraction is taking away: there were five apples, two were eaten, how many are left? These worksheets show exactly that. Every box has a group of the same object, and some of the pictures are already crossed out — those are the ones taken away. The child counts the pictures that are still there and writes the number in the box.

Under the pictures is the number sentence, like 5 − 2 =. The first number is how many pictures there were in all, the second is how many are crossed out, and the answer is what is left. Reading the sentence is optional at first: counting the pictures that are not crossed out is enough to find the answer, and the sentence starts to make sense by sitting right next to them.

There is always at least one picture crossed out and at least one left — no zero on these sheets. "Up to 5" keeps the groups small enough to see at a glance; "Up to 10" is the kindergarten goal and pairs with the addition worksheets. Click any question to change its object, the number of pictures or how many are crossed out, lock the ones you like, and press New sheet for the rest. The answer key prints on a second page only when you ask for it. Nothing to sign up for.

16 ready-to-print sheets

• Take away from 5 · Apples · 6 questions
• Take away from 5 · Stars · 4 questions
• Take away from 5 · Fish · 6 questions
• Take away from 5 · Balloons · 4 questions
• Take away from 5 · Flowers · 6 questions
• Take away from 5 · Mixed objects · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Cars · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Cats · 4 questions
• Take away from 10 · Dogs · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Leaves · 4 questions
• Take away from 10 · Butterflies · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Mixed objects · 6 questions
• Take away from 5 · Bats · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Candies · 6 questions
• Take away from 5 · Acorns · 6 questions
• Take away from 10 · Corn stalks · 6 questions