Write and Wipe Subtraction Cards

Looking for a fun way to teach kids about subtraction?! These write and wipe subtraction cards give children hands-on practice writing and solving problems. They’re great to use as a math center, small group activity or for individual practice.

Grab the complete set of subtraction cards in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, take a look at our Place Value Cover Up activity in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and make the colors really pop. I cut along the lines to separate the pieces and laminated them so I could easily wipe them clean later.

Then, I grabbed a die and a vis-a-vis marker and called Big Brother (age 6.5) over to join me.

Subtraction Cards

To start, I explained that we were going to work a little math magic. (That really got his ears to perk up!)

Since we’d been working on number bonds, Big Brother already knew that “subtraction” was another way of saying “taking away.” Today he was going to wave his wand and take away some cards in a set.

Big Brother eagerly picked out a card from the pile. Because subtraction problems start with the minuend (the number at the beginning), I had him count the number of cards shown on the card.

“Nine,” he said.

I showed him how to write the minuend in the first circle.

Then, he rolled the die to determine how many cards to cross off.

“Five,” he announced as he started drawing lines through them.

I pointed to the next circle in the equation and explained that’s where he would write the subtrahend (the number being taken away).

All that was left was solving the problem and writing the difference in the last circle.

One card after another, Big Brother worked his math magic to roll, write and solve all of the write and wipe subtraction problems. The cards included sets starting with 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cards so he could practice solving a variety of equations.

Then, he took his learning one step further by writing the complete problem (including the subtraction and equation signs!) on his record sheet. 

He loved the motivating subtraction practice.

Grab Your Set

Ready to try your hand at some math magic, too?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and snag the complete set of write and wipe cards to continue the fun! Then, while you’re there, check out our Place Value Cover Up!