Number bonds chart
A number bond shows a whole number and two parts that make it: 10 on top, 3 and 7 below. This chart draws every bond of one number, from 0 and 10 up to 10 and 0, with the addition fact under each.
Free printable PDF, Kindergarten to 1st grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: Bonds of 10.
| 0 + 10 = 10 | 1 + 9 = 10 | 2 + 8 = 10 | 3 + 7 = 10 |
| 4 + 6 = 10 | 5 + 5 = 10 | 6 + 4 = 10 | 7 + 3 = 10 |
| 8 + 2 = 10 | 9 + 1 = 10 | 10 + 0 = 10 |
Reading a number bond
The circle on top holds the whole. The two circles under it hold the parts, and the parts always add up to the whole. So the bond with 10 on top and 4 and 6 below says 4 + 6 = 10. Read it the other way and it also says 10 − 4 = 6 and 10 − 6 = 4, which is why number bonds help with subtraction too.
The bonds run in order, so a child can see the pattern: as one part goes up by one, the other goes down by one. The second half of the chart repeats the first with the parts swapped, 3 and 7 then 7 and 3, because the order of the parts does not change the whole.
Which bonds to learn first
Kindergarten splits each number up to 10 into two parts in more than one way (CCSS K.OA.A.3) and finds the number that makes 10 with any number from 1 to 9 (K.OA.A.4). Start with the bonds of 5, then 10. The bonds of 10 are the ones to know by heart, because 1st grade adds and subtracts within 20 by making a ten (1.OA.C.6): 8 + 5 is 8 + 2 + 3, which is 10 + 3.
Keep the chart beside the practice sheets while the facts are new. Once a child can say the missing part without looking, put the chart away and try a page of bonds with one circle empty.
Common questions
- What does number bonds to 10 mean?
- The pairs of numbers that add up to 10: 0 and 10, 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, and 5 and 5, plus the same pairs turned around. Some programs also use it for every bond of every number up to 10.
- Is 0 a number bond?
- Yes. 0 and 10 make 10, so it is one of the bonds of 10. It looks too easy to bother with, but it shows a child that a whole can be split so that one part is empty.