How to Help Your Child with Subtraction: 3 Proven Tips for Parents
- Math Happiness Project
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
Helping children build confidence with subtraction is an important step in their early math journey. In this post we will walk you through how to help your child with subtraction for basic fact problems like 9 − 4 or 7 − 2 using three practical strategies that help your child make sense of subtraction.
These ideas intentionally move beyond worksheets and drills. They focus on helping children see what subtraction means, connect it to everyday life, and link it to what they already know about addition. Practice is valuable, but if kids don’t understand what subtraction means, practice can only do so much.
Why the right foundation matters
Subtraction can feel abstract for young learners because it’s not just about “taking away,” it’s about understanding how quantities change. When children only memorize facts, they might get answers right without really understanding why. But when they build meaning, subtraction becomes logical and flexible.
Hands-on experiences and real-world contexts make subtraction concrete. These three tips will help you do just that.
1. Use physical models to show what subtraction means
One of the most powerful ways to help your child understand subtraction is by using objects they can touch and move. Children learn best when they can see and feel what’s happening to a group as items are taken away.
Try this at home
Use small, familiar items: building blocks, toy cars, coins, or even cereal pieces.Start with a small group—say, 8 pieces of cereal—and ask your child to remove some.
Example:
“You have 8 pieces. If you eat 3, how many are left?”
Then let them physically remove 3 and count the remaining pieces.
Ask questions like:
“What did you start with?”
“How many did you take away?”
“How many are left?”
“If you took away one more, what would happen?”
You can model the process first, then have your child do it and explain their thinking:
“I had 8. I took away 3. Now I have 5. So 8 − 3 = 5.”
Why this helps
It builds a visual image your child can later imagine mentally.
It lays the groundwork for subtraction strategies like counting back or using number lines.
It connects action (taking away) with the symbolic numbers (8 - 3 =5) if you’re at the point of writing them down (it’s okay if you’re not!)
As your child becomes more confident, you can begin to have them draw the subtraction situation using marks like X’s or circles. Eventually, encourage them to visualize what’s happening by picturing the objects or marks in their mind.
2. Put subtraction into familiar, real-world situations
Math feels friendlier and more natural when it connects to everyday life. Embedding subtraction in your child’s real experiences helps them see that it’s not just about numbers on a page.
Everyday examples:
Playtime: “You have 7 toy cars, and 2 drive away. How many are left?”
Snack time: “You had 10 crackers, and you ate 4. How many do you still have?”
Cleanup: “There were 6 crayons on the table, and we put 3 away. How many are still out?”
Storytime: “There were 5 ducks on the pond then 2 flew away. How many ducks are left?
Encourage your child to act it out, move the objects, or draw pictures to represent the situation.
Ask questions like:
“How do you know that’s a subtraction problem?”
“What would happen if two more cars drove away?”
“Would you have more or fewer left if you took away 4 instead of 2?”
These kinds of questions help kids reason about subtraction rather than just perform it.
3. Connect subtraction back to addition
Subtraction and addition are closely linked, understanding one helps build understanding of the other. When children see that addition and subtraction are related, they can use what they already know about addition facts to solve subtraction problems.
How to make the connection
Start by helping your child think about the part-part-whole structure of numbers. You may have seen number bonds from your child’s school. These are one way to show the part-part-whole relationship. The picture below shows a number bond for the number 8. The goal is for students to understand that 8 is composed (or made) of 5 and 3 together. We could make additional number bonds for 8 using pairs like 4 & 4, 2 & 6, 7 & 1, and 8 & 0.
From this number bond children can say 5 + 3 = 8 and 3 + 5 = 8
But they can ALSO say 8 - 3 = 5 and 8 - 5 = 3.
By helping children see the part-part-whole structure of numbers we help them see the connection between addition and subtraction.
When children are working on subtraction problems we want to help remind them of these relationships.
For example: If a child is solving 7 - 5, we might say, “Hmmm, 5 plus what would give us 7?” or “If I have 5 and I want to get to 7 what would I need to do?”
Using an open number line can be helpful in these situations to support children in thinking of subtraction as a missing addend problem.
If we’re solving 7- 5 we might set up our number line starting at 5, then we can count on adding one, and then one more, to see we are 2 away from 7. The difference between 5 and 7 is 2.
Helping children think about situations as addition problems where they are missing one of the parts can help make subtraction feel friendlier and help them draw upon what they already know about addition.
Ask questions like:
“What addition fact can help you solve that subtraction situation?”
“If 5 + 2 = 7, what does that tell us about 7 − 5?”
“How can you check your subtraction answer using addition?”
This helps your child see subtraction not as something entirely new, but as another way of looking at addition.
How to Help Your Child with Subtraction: Strategies That Work
To recap, when thinking about how to teach subtraction to children, focus on these three big ideas:
Use physical models so children can see what subtraction means.
Put problems into familiar, real-life situations.
Connect subtraction back to addition for deeper understanding.
Each approach builds reasoning, flexibility, and number sense → skills that matter far more than memorizing facts. If children understand what subtraction means, they will have more success with not only their basic facts, but also when they move into multi-digit subtraction later.
Try This Tonight: A 2-Minute Subtraction Game
At snack or playtime, turn subtraction into a quick, hands-on game your child will love.
What to do:
Give your child 10 small items (like grapes, cars, or blocks).
Ask them to hide or remove some behind their back.
Say: “You had 10. Some are hiding! How many can I still see? How many are hiding?”
Take turns switching roles.
This simple “What’s hiding?” game helps children build part-part-whole thinking which is at the core of subtraction and addition work.