Doubles and Near Doubles: Twenty-Eight Facts From Ten

Teach doubles with pictures

Doubles stick because they're easy to picture. An insect has 3 legs on each side. A spider has 4 on each side. Two hands have 5 fingers each. An egg box has two rows of 6. Two weeks make 14 days. Children enjoy finding their own: a pair of socks, wheels on a car, a double-decker bus. A double with a story is much easier to remember than a sum on a page. The doubles page has a picture for each one.

Near doubles, up or down

Once doubles are secure, show 6 + 7 next to 6 + 6. Line them up with blocks and the extra one is plain to see. Children can go up from the smaller double (6 + 6 + 1) or down from the bigger one (7 + 7 − 1). Most find up easier. The skill to practice is spotting neighbors: when 7 and 8 appear in a sum, a little alarm should say near double. Try 7 + 8.

A bonus: one apart from a double

Sums with one number between them, like 6 + 8 or 5 + 7, can also become doubles. Move 1 from the bigger to the smaller and 6 + 8 becomes 7 + 7. It's a nice one for children who like spotting patterns. Doubles also give halves: if 8 + 8 = 16, then half of 16 is 8, and 16 − 8 = 8. So doubles help with subtraction as well.

How to do it with Sumtown

1. Learn the doubles with the doubles game.
2. Build near doubles with blocks, and then read a fact page like 6 + 7.
3. Print a doubles or near doubles drill. Both are in the sheet's menu.
4. Print doubles flash cards for the car.

Try it now: free, no signup

PLAY

Free to play · no signup · works on phones, tablets and computers

Open the game full screen

Questions people ask