One number, one arrow at a time, all the way across
A row of sums written the way a child actually thinks about them: you are somewhere, something happens, now you are somewhere else. The answer to each step is the start of the next, so a line of five sums reads as one journey rather than five unrelated questions.
Follow the arrows and land on the answer.
A number chain worksheet generator, printable as a PDF. Pick numbers to 5, 10 or 20 and generate. Each row starts from a printed number and gives a plus or a minus over every arrow; the child writes the number they land on, then works from that. Nothing on the sheet goes below 1 or above the number you picked, so there is never a negative to explain. Ten rows a sheet, and the answer key fills the whole chain.
1 token a sheet, fewer in batches.
US Letter PDF — prints on any home printer.
Start
At the number in the first box, the only one already filled in.
Step
Do what the arrow says — plus or minus, the number is written on it.
Land
Write where you got to, then set off again from there.
Numbers up to
To 5 and to 10 are four arrows a row; to 20 is five, and the steps get bigger.
Your worksheet lands here — download, print, or email it.