These kindergarten-friendly word problems can serve as daily math questions, turned into low prep task cards, incorporated into independent math centers, used as a math warmup, pinned to a math wall or math board, or drawn on math mats.
Why not add some paper manipulatives to make the learning more concrete, reinforce the questions with printable worksheet practice or create a counting book to teach the counting strategy needed to solve the problems?
These real-world problems will develop students' core math skills of addition, subtraction, counting, and comparing while giving them plenty of reading comprehension practice.
1. A clown has 3 balloons. His friend gives him 5 more. How many does he have altogether?

2. Emily saw 9 ladybugs and Alex saw 2 ants. How many insects did they see in all?

3. There were 4 ornaments hanging on the tree. Susan hung 6 more. How many ornaments are on the tree now?

4. A clown has 8 pink balloons. If he gives 3 away, how many balloons will he have left?

5. Sam has 3 more crayons than Bill. Bill has 7 crayons. How many crayons does Sam have?

6. Anna has 9 pink flowers. She then gets 5 yellow flowers. How many more pink ones does she have than yellow ones?

7. 10 squirrels were in the park. 2 squirrels left to find nuts. How many squirrels are still in the park?

8. Kim had 8 cupcakes. She ate 3 of them. How many cupcakes does she have left?

9. There are 5 butterflies sitting on a flower. 2 butterflies are blue and the rest are orange. How many are orange?

10. Tom has 9 marbles. If he gives away 3 marbles, how many marbles will he have left?

11. There were 7 raindrops on a leaf. 4 of the raindrops fell off the leaf. How many raindrops are left on the leaf?

12. There are 6 cats in the backyard. 2 of the cats are brown. The rest are yellow. How many cats are yellow?

13. Rob ate 10 candies. Brad ate 4. Who ate more candies? How many more did they eat?

14. Tim wants 10 toy cars. He already has 7 toy cars. How many more toy cars does he need?

15. There were 5 cakes at the party. Some guests brought more cakes. Now there are 9 cakes. How many cakes were brought to the party?

16. Kate has 3 seashells. Jill has 6 seashells. Dan has 2 seashells. How many seashells do they have altogether?

17. Molly has 5 cats, 2 dogs, and 1 hamster. How many pets does she have?

18. Karen has 10 dolls. Jill has 7 dolls. Who has fewer dolls?

19. Dylan is 10 years old. Sam is 6 years old. Who is older? How much older?

20. Jen has 5 red apples. Peter has 7 red apples. Who has more red apples?
