Adding means putting things together to find how many there are altogether. If you have some toys and a friend gives you more, adding tells you how many you have now. This gentle lesson shows adding with pictures first, then the quick way to count on.
When we add, we join two groups and count them all. The plus sign + means 'and', and the equals sign = means 'is the same as'. So 3 + 2 means 'three things and two more things', and it equals 5.
Look at the picture: three dots and two more dots make five dots when we count them all together.
Adding is easiest to understand with a real story. It is Sam's birthday. His parents give him 2 presents, and his grandparents give him 3 presents. How many presents does Sam have altogether?
To find out, we put the two groups of presents together and count them all. 2 presents and 3 more presents — count them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Sam has 5 presents in total. That is exactly what 2 + 3 = 5 means. Try telling your own adding stories with toys or snacks — it makes adding feel real.
You don't always have to count every dot from the start. A quicker way is to count on: start at the bigger number and count up by the smaller one. For 4 + 3, start at 4 and count on three more — 5, 6, 7. The answer is 7.
Counting on your fingers is a great way to do this. Hold up the first number, then count on the second number one finger at a time.
Here is something nice about adding: you can add in any order and get the same answer. 2 + 5 is the same as 5 + 2 — both make 7. So you can always start with the bigger number to make counting on easier.
This means if you know 3 + 4 = 7, you also already know 4 + 3 = 7. Learning one fact gives you two.
Try these. Pick an answer to see whether it's right and why.