Fact Families Activity
Unlock the relationship between numbers with this engaging fact families activity that makes addition and subtraction connections crystal clear.
Understanding fact families is a cornerstone of early maths fluency, and this activity makes the concept tangible and accessible. Students explore how three numbers are related through addition and subtraction, building the number sense they need to solve equations flexibly and confidently. Once students understand fact families, mental maths becomes so much easier!
This resource is designed to make the abstract concrete — helping students see the beautiful symmetry in how numbers work together.
Why teachers love it:
- Builds number sense — students discover the relationship between addition and subtraction through structured exploration
- Flexible and fluent thinking — once students understand fact families, they can use any number in a set to derive the others
- Curriculum-aligned — supports Australian Curriculum Number and Algebra outcomes for early primary
- Print and go — no prep required, just print and hand out
Perfect for:
- Introducing or consolidating fact family concepts
- Maths rotations and small group activities
- Years 1–3 addition and subtraction units
- Homework activities to reinforce classroom learning
- Early finisher extension tasks
What's included:
A printable PDF fact families activity covering addition and subtraction relationships between numbers, with structured practice tasks.
Fact families are the secret weapon of mental maths — give your students the key!
SPECIFICATIONS
Format: PDF, set up for A4 paper. Exactly what's inside is listed above.
Editing: This download is not editable. The PDF is flattened to protect the design and the artists' work we license.
Printing: Open the file in a PDF reader and choose 'Fit to page' or 'Actual size'. Do a test page on plain paper first — card, colour and black-and-white all print well.
Licence: One classroom, one teacher. Please don't share, resell or post the file online; buy an extra licence for each colleague who wants their own copy.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
You'll need a PDF reader on your device — the free Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most reliable. Double-click the downloaded file to open it.
If a page shows on screen but won't print properly, open it in Acrobat Reader, choose Print → Advanced → tick 'Print as image'.
Stuck? Contact us and we'll sort it out.
OUR HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
We want you to love every Mrs Edgar resource. If something isn't right, contact us within 30 days and we'll make it right. Because this is a digital file we can't refund a download that has already been opened, but we will always help you get it working. See our Returns Policy.
FAQS
Where is my download?
Check your inbox (and junk folder) for the email from Mrs Edgar with your link. You can also log in to your account at mrsedgar.com.au and download it from your order.
It came as a ZIP file — how do I open it?
On a Mac, double-click it. On Windows, right-click and choose 'Extract All'. Your PDFs will be inside.
Can I print in colour or black and white?
Yes. Our resources are designed to work both ways; black-and-white versions look great on coloured card.
The download won't start on my school computer.
Some school networks block downloads. Try again at home, or right-click the link and choose 'Save link as'.
