Writing number sentences is something that students work on across the year in Kindergarten. As you try these activities at home with your child, you can ask him/her to write a number sentence, but if that feels hard, know that s/he may not be ready yet and continue the activity without the written portion of it.

• Invite your child to gather a number of objects (10 or less). Together, tell take apart/put together stories about the objects and write addition sentences to match. For example, “There are 9 toy trucks; 5 are green and 4 are red. Write a number sentence to match the story.” (9 = 5 + 4)
• Tell your child a story with a total of 9 or 10. For example, “There are 8 bears in a cave. When it starts to rain, 1 more bear enters the cave to get out of the rain. How many bears are now in the cave?” Encourage your child to say and write a number sentence to match the story. (8 + 1 = 9)
• Invite your child to place a number of pennies (up to 10) in a cup, shake the cup, and then pour out the pennies. Encourage your child to say an addition sentence to match the total number of heads and tails while you write the addition sentence. For example, if 6 pennies land heads up and 3 pennies land tails up, the matching number sentence is 6 + 3 = 9.
• Invite your child to gather a number of small toys (10 or less). Together, tell take away stories about the toys and write subtraction sentences to match.
• Invite your child to roll a die and subtract the number she rolls from 9 or 10. For example, if your child rolls a 4, she should say, “9 take away 4 equals 5.” Encourage your child to write each subtraction sentence on paper. Play again, this time guiding your child to subtract from 10.
• Invite your child to hold up 10 fingers. Ask him to tuck (put down) some fingers. Then ask, “How many are left?” Encourage your child to say or write a subtraction number sentence to match. For example, if he tucked three fingers, your child should say, “10 take away 3 equals 7” or write 10 – 3 = 7.
• Invite your child to solve problems involving different combinations that make the same total. For example, say, "I have ten cars. Some are red cars and some blue cars. How many of each could I have?" or, "I have ten books. Some are on the top, some are on the bottom. How many can be on each shelf?"