Christmas Addition & Subtraction Crack the Code
Crack the code and find the Christmas message — maths practice disguised as festive fun.
This Christmas Addition and Subtraction Crack the Code activity is a brilliant printable maths activity for Australian primary school students in Years 1–3. Students solve addition and subtraction problems to reveal a secret Christmas message — keeping them genuinely engaged with number facts right up to the end of term. It's self-checking, self-motivating, and completely no-prep.
Aligned to the Australian Curriculum Mathematics strand and ready to print the moment you download it.
Why teachers love it:
- Maths practice made fun — number facts and operations wrapped up in a festive puzzle format
- Self-motivating — the mystery message keeps students focused until they crack the code
- Great for December — keeps learning happening when students' minds are on Christmas
- Zero prep — print and hand out, no extra materials needed
Perfect for:
- Years 1–3 Australian primary classrooms
- Christmas maths activities and numeracy practice
- Fast finishers and early finisher tasks
- Morning work and end of term independent activities
What's included:
- One A4 crack-the-code worksheet — twenty two-digit addition and subtraction problems that decode the riddle What is green, white and red all over?
- Teacher answer key
- Black and white; print one per student
Print and go — your Christmas maths lesson is sorted. 🖨️
Planning your Christmas classroom?
Our Ultimate Christmas guide has more activity ideas, display tips and freebies to use alongside this resource.
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'.
