What is addition?

Have you ever had some apples and then got a few more? When we put things together to find out how many we have in all, that is called addition! Addition is one of the most helpful things in all of math, and you use it every single day without even knowing it. 🍎

Here is our first example: Imagine you have 2 toy cars, and your friend gives you 3 more toy cars. Now you want to know — how many toy cars do you have altogether? You put them together and count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! So 2 and 3 together make 5. We write this as: 2 + 3 = 5. The little + sign is called a plus sign, and it means we are adding!

Here is our second example: You are having a snack and you have 1 strawberry on your plate. Your mum puts 4 more strawberries on your plate. How many strawberries do you have now? We add them together: 1 + 4 = 5. Five yummy strawberries! 🍓 See how addition helps us find the total when we join two groups?

Reflection question: Can you think of something at home — like socks, books, or crayons — where you could put two small groups together and count how many you have in all? What would you add? 😊