wunder beta

✏️ Showing Addition and Subtraction with Pictures

Show adding and taking away with cubes, counters, and drawings, so the math in your head matches something you can actually see.

lessons

~15 min

to learn

🔢 Math

subject

Ages 6–12

level

Start the course →

What you’ll learn

Show It with CubesRepresent addition using cubes, counters, and other objects.You can build math with your hands. Snap cubes together to show adding: 3 red cubes and 2 blue cubes make a tower of 5. Counters, buttons, or any small objects work too. Objects let you show the two parts joining into one whole.
Draw the StoryRepresent subtraction by drawing and crossing out to match a number sentence.You can draw the math. To show 5 take away 2, draw 5 dots and cross out 2, leaving 3. The picture matches the numbers exactly: 5 - 2 = 3. Drawing and the number sentence tell the same story.
Pictures in Your MindUse mental images to represent addition and subtraction.After building and drawing lots of math, you can begin to picture it in your mind — imagining dots joining or being crossed out and just knowing the answer. Connecting pictures to number sentences builds this mental math power.

Questions this course answers

What can you use to show math besides cubes?

Any small objects you can move and count — counters, buttons, pebbles — help show the math.

To show 5 take away 2 by drawing, what do you do?

Draw 5 circles, cross out 2, and the 3 left are the answer.

What happens after you practice building and drawing math a lot?

With practice you can start to see the math in your mind without cubes or paper.

Grounded in trusted sources

Khan Academy Kids
PBS Kids — early math
NAEYC — early math learning
Britannica Kids

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

Related Math courses

✏️Showing How You Got Your Answer 🧸Showing Math with Objects and Words 🔍Similar Shapes and Scale Factors ✂️Simplifying Fractions 🧗Solving Complex Math Problems 💷Solving Money and Measurement Problems 🧩Solving Multi-Step Word Problems 🍎Solving Two-Step Word Problems

Wunder is a personalized learn-anything platform — tell it any topic and it builds a beautiful, fact-checked course in minutes, with narration, a knowledge check, and a college-style University track.

Browse more Math courses · All topics · Home