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Love Heart Number Bonds to 10

January 15, 2016 by Emma Gadsby 13 Comments

When I started teaching it was the first time I had heard of the term “number bond”. I was filled with fear at the prospect of teaching five year olds something that sounded complex. I needn’t have worried though as number bonds just involves straight forward addition or subtraction. A number bond is simply a pair of numbers that add up to another number. The number bonds to ten are 0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6 and 5+5.

Number bonds provide a mental picture of the relationship between two numbers which enables a child to do mental arithmetic. Children begin to see the patterns in numbers and learn mathematical principles rather than memorising each individual sum. For example 8 + 2 = 10 – a child who “knows” this number bond should be able to immediately fill in any one of these three numbers if it were missing without having to “work it out”.

Love Heart Number Bonds to 10

(This post contains affiliate links)

My favourite way to teaching number bonds to ten involves hearts – broken hearts to be precise. Our Love Heart Number Bonds to 10 are simple to make and can be used time and time again. The idea behind the activity is that the two numbers are in love. When they are by themselves they are broken and unhappy. When they find their number bond the hearts are happy and fit together. For example number 2 loves number 8 because together they make 10. You would be surprised how quickly the children picked this up as they found it funny. Number 5 spends his time in front of the mirror because he loves himself whereas number 10 doesn’t love anybody – zero.

Making number bond love hearts

To create our Love Heart Number Bonds to 10 I created ten heart shapes on red card by drawing around a heart shaped storage box lid. I then wrote the number bonds onto the hearts using a black marker pen. I cut out the individual hearts and “broke” the hearts down the middle. Each heart had a different style of break.Broken love heart number bonds

I also wanted to create a bead string so that Adam could have a visual of seeing the number bond. I made this by using a red pipe cleaner and threading on 10 red lacing beads. Adam could move the beads along the line in order to see if his answer was correct or not.

Learning number bonds to ten

To play the game I placed the left hand side hearts on a heart shaped plate and the right hand side hearts onto the table. Adam picked up a heart from the plate and located that number of beads on the bead string. He counted the remaining beads and located that numbered heart from the table.

Teaching number bonds to ten

Finally he joined the two hearts to check that the two numbers were indeed a number bond to ten.

Love heart number bonds

Adam is very confident with numbers and it didn’t take him long to notice a pattern.

Number bonds to ten on Valentine hearts

Once all the love hearts were complete we discussed which patterns he could see and we played a quick fire game – “Who does number 4 love? 6”, “Who does number 3 love? 7” “Who does number 5 love? Himself”.

Number bonds Busy Bag

Our Love Heart Number Bonds to 10 activity fits nicely into our heart shaped tin purchased from Tiger Stores UK. Our Valentine Busy Bag will help reinforce Adam’s knowledge of number bonds to ten over time.

love of learning
Visit these blogs to see more For the Love of Learning activities:
Matching Stickers Lacing Cards by Teach me Mommy
Valentine’s Day Cupcake Graphing by Life over C’s
Heart Number Bonds by Adventures of Adam
Melting Heart Experiment by Crafty kids at Home
Fine Motor Heart Garland by Powerful Mothering
Sticker Words by Rebecca Reid Homeschool
Melting Love Hearts by The Gingerbread House
Valentine Alphabet Match by The Kindergarten Connection
Valentine Playdough Mats by Kidz Activities
Lines of Symmetry Loving Hearts by Peakle Pie

Kindergarten-Blog-Hop

Click on the links below for more Friendship and Valentine inspired Kindergarten fun!

Scratch Art cards by Castle View Academy

Q-tip hearts from Our Whimsical Days

Cardboard Hearts Hand Eye Coordination from Sugar Aunts

Kindergarten Valentine’s Day Activities from Something 2 Offer

Valentine’s Day Initial Sound Matching Activity by Play & Learn Everyday

Kindergarten Valentine’s Day Reading List and Story Extension by Crafty Mama in ME

Lovely Kindergarten Valentines Experiment by Thriving STEM

Heart Shaped Fairy Bread by Kidz Activities

Printable Valentine Coloring Book Pictures from Sight and Sound Reading

Couscous Hearts by Squiggles and Bubbles

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Filed Under: Independent Play Activity, Learning Activities, Play Activities, Super Quick Play Activities Tagged With: Busy Bag Play Activities, DIY activities, Number Recognition Activities

Previous Post: « Valentine Fine Motor Sensory Bin
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nadia says

    January 15, 2016 at 1:15 pm

    You’re right, number bonds sounds difficult, but is not. Especially when explained with this great idea of yours! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:31 pm

      Isn’t it funny how we can immediately be put off an idea simply by its name. Number bonds do sound so tricky.

      Reply
  2. Helen @ Peakle Pie says

    January 15, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    Simple and effective plus it looks great fun too!. I think I will try this with Peakles at the weekend.

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:31 pm

      Hope they enjoyed it 🙂

      Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:31 pm

      Hope they enjoyed it 🙂

      Reply
  3. Kim says

    January 15, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    I love the string of beads that you included! Hands-on learning materials make things so much easier to understand!

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:27 pm

      The string of beads literally took seconds to make and can be used time and time again.

      Reply
  4. Nicola says

    January 15, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    Well that is two new things I have learnt today. The term number bonds and that you are a teacher. A great hands on learning activity.

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:27 pm

      You can take the teacher out of the classroom but not the classroom out of the teacher 🙂

      Reply
  5. ChristyM says

    January 15, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    This looks perfect for my kindergartener. What a great way to build number sense.

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:26 pm

      Thank you. It is wonderful when they spot the pattern.

      Reply
  6. Tina says

    January 17, 2016 at 10:23 am

    This is such a clever idea! In my kids’ school, they say “complements of 10″… I seem to like the term “number bonds” better 🙂 Having the counting beads as a guide is definitely a great idea.

    Reply
    • Emma Edwards says

      January 19, 2016 at 4:25 pm

      Complements of ten is much nicer term! Shall use that from now on 🙂

      Reply

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Emma and Adam

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

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