Mental Math for Kids: 6 Strategies and a 5-Minute Daily Routine

What is mental math, and why does it matter?

Mental math is working out an answer in your head from facts you already know. A child who knows that 7 + 3 = 10 can find 7 + 4 in a second: one more than 10, so 11.

It matters because quick facts free up attention for the hard part of a problem: a 2021 practice guide from the US Institute of Education Sciences says automatic fact retrieval gives students “more mental energy” for complex tasks. Mental strategies also build number sense, the ability to use numbers flexibly, which Stanford’s youcubed team calls the foundation for higher-level math.

Children need both memorized facts and strategies: facts are the building blocks, and strategies work out the rest. For the first steps with objects, see our guides to teaching addition and teaching subtraction.

At what age do children learn mental math strategies?

Children start with tiny sums at 5 and add a new strategy almost every year. In the US, the Common Core State Standards set out this path:

England’s national curriculum is similar: Year 2 pupils (age 6–7) should “recall and use addition and subtraction facts to 20 fluently”, Year 3 pupils add and subtract mentally with three-digit numbers, and Year 4 pupils recall multiplication facts up to 12 × 12. For every area of math, see math skills by age.

Step by step: 6 mental math strategies (with examples)

Teach one strategy at a time, in this order: each leans on the one before. Start with small numbers and real objects.

1. Number bonds to 10

Number bonds to 10 are the pairs that make 10: 1 + 9, 2 + 8, 3 + 7, 4 + 6 and 5 + 5. Known by heart, they let a child make ten, subtract from 10 and spot handy pairs in longer sums.

2. Doubles and near doubles

Doubles such as 6 + 6 are easy to picture: the two rows of a dozen-egg carton. A near double uses a double your child knows, then adds or takes away one. Doubles also give halves for free.

3. Make ten (bridging through 10)

When a sum crosses 10, split the second number so the first one reaches 10, then add the rest. In subtraction, go down to 10 first. The US 1st-grade standards call this “making ten”.

4. Partitioning: split into tens and ones

Split numbers into tens and ones (their place value), add the tens, add the ones, then combine. Or keep the first number whole and add the tens, then the ones, like jumps along a number line.

5. Compensation: round and adjust

When a number is close to a ten or a hundred, round it, do the easy calculation, then fix the difference: adding 9 is adding 10 and taking away 1.

Tip Subtracting? Watch the direction

If you take away 20 instead of 19, you took away one too many, so add 1 back: 52 − 19 = 32 + 1 = 33. Show it with coins or on a number line before doing it in your head.

6. Counting in steps (skip counting)

Counting in 2s, 5s, 10s and 100s, forward and back, is the bridge to times tables and to adding tens mentally. More in our times tables guide.

Which strategy should my child use?

There is rarely one right way: look at the numbers first, then choose. Use this table as a prompt, not a rule:

Ask “How did you work it out?” every time. The answer shows which strategies your child has, and explaining helps them stick. Stanford’s youcubed team recommends these short “number talks”, where children share and compare different ways of solving the same problem.

A 5-minute daily mental math routine

Pick a regular moment, such as breakfast or the walk to school. You need no paper and no timer; adjust the numbers to your child.

1. Minute 1: count in steps. Count together in 2s, 5s or 10s, forward and then back. Older children can start from any number: 37, 47, 57…
2. Minute 2: quick bonds. You say a number and your child says its partner to 10 (6 → 4), or its partner to 100 for older children (30 → 70).
3. Minutes 3–4: one problem, two ways. Give one problem, such as 38 + 25, and ask for two different ways to solve it. Then share yours.
4. Minute 5: swap roles. Your child sets you a problem and checks your answer. Get one wrong on purpose now and then, and let them catch it.

Tip Try it tonight

At dinner, ask: “What is 9 + 6? How did you get it?” Then share your way: 10 + 6 = 16, take away 1, so 15. That is your first number talk, and it takes two minutes.

Speed vs. accuracy: how do I build fluency without pressure?

Fluency means being accurate, efficient and flexible, not just fast. Speed grows out of understanding and regular use.

Experts disagree about timers. Stanford math education professor Jo Boaler (youcubed) argues that timed tests are where math anxiety starts for many children, and recommends learning facts through number sense. A 2021 What Works Clearinghouse guide found strong evidence that short timed activities (1 to 5 minutes) help children who struggle with math, and advises using them only after a skill is taught, with children beating their own score and accuracy as the goal.

Pressure can also backfire quietly: in a large US study of first and second graders, children with more math anxiety used fewer advanced strategies, and that was linked to lower achievement.

• Accuracy first. A slow, correct answer with a good strategy is a success.
• Never time something new. Practice a strategy without a clock until your child is confident.
• Keep any timer short and private. One minute, compared only with your child’s own last score, never with a sibling or classmate.
• Stop at the first sign of stress. Tears, freezing or wild guessing mean the timer goes away. Our guide to math anxiety in kids explains why.
• Let fingers in. US kindergarten standards list fingers as one way to show sums. Offer a quicker strategy rather than banning them.

Common mistakes (and quick fixes)

• Teaching all six strategies at once. Fix: one strategy a week, with small numbers first.
• Checking only the answer. Fix: ask how, even when it is right. A correct answer reached by counting in ones means a strategy is still missing.
• Rescuing too fast. Fix: wait ten slow seconds, then give a hint, not the answer: “What is 8 + 2?”
• Skipping the hands-on step. Fix: if a strategy does not click, go back to objects: ten coins, a ten-frame drawn on paper, or fingers.

How can my child practice mental math on their own?

• Make-10 solitaire. Take the picture cards out of a deck (ace = 1) and lay out 10 cards face up. Your child removes any pair that makes 10 (a 10 goes on its own) and fills the gaps from the pile.
• “Know it” and “not yet” piles. Write facts on scraps of paper. Your child sorts them into two piles and picks three “not yet” facts to work on each day.
• Board and card games. Our math games at home list has 13 screen-free ideas sorted by age.
• A math app, in moderation. A good one adapts to your child and has no ads; our checklist for choosing a math app helps you decide.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Written by the Matobur team at Edict Digital and checked against these sources:

1. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (opens in a new tab)Common Core State Standards Initiative
2. National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study (opens in a new tab)Department for Education, GOV.UK
3. Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades (Fuchs et al., 2021) (opens in a new tab)What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education
4. Fluency Without Fear: Research Evidence on the Best Ways to Learn Math Facts (Boaler, 2015) (opens in a new tab)youcubed, Stanford University
5. On the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement in early elementary school: The role of problem solving strategies (Ramirez et al., 2016) (opens in a new tab)Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, via PubMed