Free printable subtraction games for kids to play with dice—no prep required!

Let’s solve one of the subtraction problems from the game sheet step by step.

We’ll pick this problem:
17 - 8 = ?

Step 1: Start with the bigger number — 17.
Step 2: Count backward 8 steps from 17.
You can do it like this:
17 → 16 (1)
16 → 15 (2)
15 → 14 (3)
14 → 13 (4)
13 → 12 (5)
12 → 11 (6)
11 → 10 (7)
10 → 9 (8)

So, after counting back 8, we land on 9.

Another way: Think “What number plus 8 makes 17?”
8 + 9 = 17 → so 17 - 8 = 9.

✔ Both ways give us the same answer.

Final Answer:
9