A tens frame is a simple yet very effective tool for playing with numbers up to five, ten and on the iPad up to twenty. This app provides a tens frame and ten counters, five blue and five green.

How could my child use a tens frame? Here are some ideas!

Check that the student can recognise the number of dots on a tens frame card instantly without counting.

Addition:
Make sure the students understands that the dots plus the spaces equal ten. Practise all the combinations that make ten.

Subtraction:
Place all ten dots on the frame and ask the students to imagine taking off some dots. For example, for ten minus six the students imagine six dots removed and see that there are four dots left. Check this by actually removing six dots. This leaves four dots exposed.

Practice all 12 combinations of every basic fact. For example the basic fact 2 + 8 = 10 is linked to all these problems:
2 + 8 = ?           ? + 8 = 10       2 + ? = 10        8 + 2 = ?
? + 2 = 10        8 + ? = 10        10 – 8 = ?        ? – 8 = 2
10 – ? = 2        10 – 2 = ?        ? – 2 = 8          10 – ? = 8