Meet the column crew
Free printable column addition practice for Year 3 and Year 4, with new sums every time.
Make a sheetFree column addition worksheets. Choose the level, click, print. New sums every time, with an answer page for easy marking.
Ollie looks after the ones, and he can only hold up to 9. When the ones add up to 10 or more, he keeps the ones and passes a 1 to Tess, who looks after the tens.
Press “Show me” and Ollie will explain.
Each sum sits in its own chart with coloured columns and tall working space, so your child can see where every digit belongs.
For grown-ups
Column addition is the written method children learn at primary school for adding bigger numbers. Here’s how it works, step by step, using 456 + 278.
Write one number above the other, so the hundreds, tens and ones sit in the same columns. The coloured headings on every sheet do this for you.
Always start on the right. 6 + 8 = 14. Write the 4 in the ones answer box and carry the 1 into the tens column.
5 + 7 = 12, plus the 1 you carried makes 13. Write the 3 and carry the 1 into the hundreds.
4 + 2 = 6, plus the 1 you carried makes 7. Write the 7.
The answer is 734. A quick estimate helps: 456 is close to 450 and 278 is close to 280, so the answer should be about 730.
| H | T | O | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| + | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| working | 1 | 1 | |
| = | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Found a problem, or have an idea to make the sheets better? We’d love to hear from you.
If you’re a child, please ask a grown-up before you send a message.