How to teach carrying and borrowing without tears

Carrying, or regrouping, is usually the first time a sum can't be done in your head in one step. That is why it trips children up: the method matters as much as the answer.

Start with the right-hand column

Children read from left to right, so they want to add that way too. Show them that sums start in the ones column and move left. Saying "ones, then tens, then hundreds" out loud helps it stick.

Make the carry visible

Ask your child to write the carried 1 in a small box above the next column. Once it is written down, it is much harder to forget. quokid's math sheets leave a dashed box above every column for exactly this.

Borrowing is carrying in reverse

When the top digit is too small, cross it out, take one from the next column and write the new numbers above. Crossing out is a good habit, not a mess.

Keep it short

Five or six sums done carefully beat twenty rushed ones. Stop while it is still going well, and come back tomorrow.