Hit the Button Number Bonds
Practise number bonds with quick-fire "what's missing" questions. Pick a range — to 10, to 20 or to 100 — and try to beat your score.
To 10, 20 and 100 — press to start
What are number bonds?
A number bond is simply a pair of numbers that add up to a target total — 3 and 7 are a number bond to 10, 12 and 8 are a bond to 20. Knowing bonds instantly, without counting on fingers, is one of the foundational skills the National Curriculum expects children to build in Key Stage 1 and carry into Key Stage 2, where it underpins mental addition, subtraction and place value work.
Bonds to 10, 20 and 100
Use the range picker above to focus practice. Bonds to 10 are the starting point, usually secure by the end of Year 1. Bonds to 20 build on that same pattern with slightly bigger numbers, typically a Year 2 focus. Bonds to 100 (in tens, like 30 + 70) extend the same idea and support Year 3–4 place value and mental addition.
Why timed practice helps
The value isn't in getting the answer eventually — it's in getting it instantly. A child who has to count on their fingers for 6 + 4 hasn't really learned the bond yet. Short, timed rounds train genuine recall speed rather than just correct-eventually answers, which is exactly what frees up attention for harder maths later.
Strategies that actually build number bonds, not just test them
A quiz game is good for practising recall once a bond is understood — it's not the best tool for teaching the concept from nothing. If a child is guessing rather than recalling, these are the approaches that tend to work before drilling:
- Ten frames. A simple 2×5 grid of dots makes the "how many more to fill it" question visual rather than abstract — genuinely one of the most effective early tools for bonds to 10.
- Part-part-whole thinking. Framing 7 + 3 = 10 as "7 and 3 are parts that make the whole, 10" (rather than just "7 plus 3") helps the same fact transfer to related questions like 10 − 3 = 7 and 10 − 7 = 3.
- Near-double strategies. Once doubles are secure (5+5, 6+6), bonds like 5+6 become "double 5, plus 1" rather than a fact learned from scratch.
- Bridging through 10. For bonds to 20, breaking 8 + 6 into 8 + 2 + 4 (bridge to 10, then add the rest) is the strategy most UK schools now teach explicitly, and it's worth using the same language at home so it doesn't compete with what's taught in class.
Common bond families, grouped
Swipe sideways to see the full table on a small screen.
| Pair | Pair | Pair |
|---|---|---|
| 0 + 10 | 4 + 6 | 8 + 2 |
| 1 + 9 | 5 + 5 | 9 + 1 |
| 2 + 8 | 6 + 4 | 10 + 0 |
| 3 + 7 | 7 + 3 |
Once bonds to 10 are instant in both directions (7+3 and 3+7, without re-deriving), bonds to 20 usually follow faster than they would from a cold start, because every bond to 20 can be related back to a bond to 10 via bridging.
A common misconception worth catching early
Some children learn "7 + 3 = 10" as a fact but don't yet generalise it to "10 − 3 = 7" or "10 − 7 = 3" — they treat addition and subtraction bonds as unrelated facts to memorise separately, which roughly doubles the workload for no benefit. Explicitly practising a bond in both directions (this game mixes both) helps that generalisation happen naturally rather than needing to be taught as a separate rule.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between "number bonds" and "addition facts"?
They're largely the same idea taught with different framing. "Number bonds" emphasises the whole-and-parts relationship (7 and 3 both belong to the bond of 10), which tends to transfer better to subtraction and algebra than addition facts memorised as one-directional sums.
My child can do bonds to 10 but freezes on bonds to 20 — why?
This is usually a sign the bridging-through-10 strategy hasn't clicked yet, rather than a bonds-to-10 problem. Try explicitly narrating the bridge ("8 + 6: 8 needs 2 to make 10, then 4 left over, so 12") a few times before returning to timed practice.
Are bonds to 100 the same skill as bonds to 10 and 20?
Yes, applied to tens instead of ones — 30 + 70 = 100 uses exactly the same bond as 3 + 7 = 10. Children who are fluent in bonds to 10 usually pick up bonds to 100 quickly once that connection is pointed out explicitly.
More Hit the Button Maths games
Building a regular practice habit? See our home practice routine guide for how often, how long, and how to keep it low-pressure.