What are base ten blocks?
Base ten blocks are a classic hands-on way to teach place value, used widely in Singapore-style maths. Tens are shown as bars made of ten segments and ones as single squares, so a number like 27 becomes two ten-bars and seven little cubes. This tool turns that concrete model into an animation, letting a child watch addition and subtraction happen block by block instead of just seeing an answer appear.
Seeing regrouping and borrowing
The real power is in the tricky moments. When ones pile up to ten, they visibly bundle together and trade for a single ten-bar — that's "carrying" in the written method. In subtraction, when there aren't enough ones, a ten-bar cracks open into ten ones — that's "borrowing". Watching the trade happen, with a short sentence narrating each step, makes the standard algorithm meaningful rather than a rule to memorise. Kids can replay the whole thing or skip straight to the answer.
For home and the classroom
It works with numbers from 0 to 99, adds or subtracts, and takes input from the steppers, the keyboard, or a touchscreen. Animations respect the system's reduced-motion setting, nothing is collected, and it keeps working offline once loaded — a simple visual aid a parent or teacher can put in front of a child straight away.
For parents and teachers: it is a visual aid for understanding regrouping, best used alongside guided practice.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Singapore / base-ten method?
It teaches numbers as groups of tens and ones using physical or pictured blocks, building a concrete understanding of place value before the written algorithm. This tool animates that model.
What ages is it for?
It fits children around ages 6 to 9 (roughly first to third grade) learning two-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.
What are base ten blocks?
Learning blocks that show place value: a small cube is one, a rod is ten, a flat is a hundred and a large cube is a thousand.
How do base ten blocks help kids?
They make place value visible and hands-on, so children can see why 34 means three tens and four ones, and can build addition and subtraction physically.
How do you regroup with base ten blocks?
Trade ten ones for one ten, or ten tens for one hundred, which shows exactly what "carrying" and "borrowing" mean in written arithmetic.