First grade math word problems
Here is a list of 45 important first grade math word problems that first grade students must know how to solve.
1
How many bunny ears do 3 bunnies have?
2
There are 20 kids in George’s class. On Wednesday, the teacher takes attendance and says only 14 kids are in class and the rest are out sick. How many kids are out sick?
3
Ben and Samantha were eating jelly beans. Ben ate 6 pieces and Samantha ate more than he did. In all, they ate 15 pieces of jelly beans. How much jelly beans did Samantha eat?
4
Emily watched 5 episodes of her favorite show today. The show has 10 episodes. How many episodes does she have left to watch?
5
Jamie brought 18 cookies in for the class. 9 cookies were chocolate chip cookies and the rest were oatmeal raisin cookies. How many cookies were oatmeal raisin?
6
Gabriel’s class goes to the zoo. They see 4 tigers, 2 lions, 3 pigs, and 5 guinea pigs. How many animals are at the farm?
7
Jessie and Gary are in the library. Jessie checks out 4 books to take home, and Gary checks out 8 books. How many more books did Gary check out?
8
If Joshua has 10 cookies and the number of cookies with chocolate chips is 4 more than the number of cookies with M&M’s, how many cookies have chocolate chips?
9
Hailey has some crayons during drawing time. Gabriella gives her 6 more crayons and now she has 11. How many crayons did she have to begin with?
10
Joel has 3 marbles. Patrick has 13 marbles. How many more marbles does Patrick have?
11
Jayden is cooking with his mom. She tells him to put 12 grapes in the fruit salad but Jayden eats some of the grapes. When she comes to check, there are only 7 grapes in the salad. How many did Jayden eat?
12
Caleb’s class is on a field trip, and the teacher is giving out lollipops. 6 got grape flavor, 3 got orange flavor, and 10 got green apple flavor. How many kids are in Caleb’s class altogether?
13
Tina has 8 superhero action figures and she gets some more from her friend, Conner. Now she has 12 superhero action figures. How many did she get from Conner?
14
Lily made 8 cupcakes for her mom and dad. Her mom took 2 cupcakes and her dad took 3. How many cupcakes are left?
15
Logan drew 4 pictures. Noah drew 9 pictures. Noah drew ____ more pictures than Logan.
16
Theo watched 9 episodes of his favorite show. Then, his sister, Sofia, watched 6 more episodes with him. How many episodes did he watch in total?
17
Kate and Derek bought fish from a pet store. Kate has 4 fish, and Derek has 9 fish. They put them all in one fish tank. How many fish are in the fish tank?
18
If you have 14 pencils and you lose 6 of them, how many pencils do you have left?
19
Cory and Sasha are eating candy. There are 20 pieces, 8 red and some blue. If they eat all the red pieces, how many blue pieces will they have left?
20
Joey and Justin count their fingers. How many fingers did they count altogether?
21
Benji has 4 rabbits and he counts their ears. How many ears does he count?
22
Which weighs more: a 16-pound Poodle or a 25-pound Labrador?
23
Melanie, Nicholas, and Seth are going apple picking. Melanie picks 5 apples, Nicholas picks 9 apples, and they pick 18 apples all together. How many apples did Seth pick?
24
Ethan is decorating the windows in his house. His house has 7 windows, and he’s already put stickers on 2. How many windows does he have left?
25
Linda has 2 cats, 2 bunnies, and 1 guinea pig. How many little noses do her pets have?
26
Sam is collecting fall leaves for an art project. He finds 6 yellow leaves and 3 orange leaves. When he gets inside, his friend Cindy gives him 4 more green leaves. How many leaves does he have for his art project?
27
Belle’s class is hatching butterflies. They put 10 caterpillars in the case and after a few days, there are 6 butterflies in the case. How many have not hatched yet?
28
Paige eats 8 graham crackers on Monday and 0 on Sunday. How many does she eat in total?
29
Oscar had 17 pencils in his pencil box. His friend, Kiana, takes some pencils. Now he has 4 left. How many did Kiana take?
30
Ms. O’Brien tells everyone to pick a partner and read 10 books over the summer. Anne reads 1 book and Jonathan reads 3 books. How many more books do they have left to read?
31
On Tuesday, Pedro ate 4 slices of pizza and only 1 slice on Wednesday. How many more slices of pizza did Pedro eat on Tuesday?
32
If there are about 2 inches of snow each day of the week, how many inches of snow will there be in a week?
33
Madison loves to eat marshmallow. Each day he eats 6 marshmallow pieces. How pieces of marshmallow will he eat after 3 days.
34
Jackson and Liam love to drink soda and eating chocolate cookies. Each day Jackson drinks 2 cups of soda and Liam drinks 1 cup of soda. How many cups of soda do they drink together in a week?
35
A 15-pound cat is attacking a 14-pound dog in a playground. Which animal is heavier?
36
Rasheed has 10 pennies in a vase and 20 pennies in his piggy bank. How many dimes does he have?
37
Nicole's dog loves treats. If Nicole's dog gets 4 treats on Sunday and 6 treats on Monday, how many treats did the dog get?
38
Sylvia has 4 folders in her backpack and each folder has 3 poems. How many poems does Sylvia have?
39
Rachel's mom is making a cake to serve as dessert for her guests at dinner time. She needs 6 eggs. Rachel's father needs also 6 eggs to make muffins. If the egg carton has 11 eggs now, how many eggs will be left in the egg carton when they are done making their food?
40
A basket has 8 green tomatoes and 4 red tomatoes. How many tomatoes are in the basket?
41
How many paws do 2 cats have?
42
There are 6 green balloons and 3 yellow balloons flying in the sky. How many balloons are flying altogether?
43
Mason has 10 apps on his phone. 3 of the apps are games. How many apps are not games?
44
Clark family loves to buy toys for their children. Last week, they bought 6 toy cars and this week, they bought 4. How many toys did the children get in two weeks?
45
Is a 110-pound kangaroo heavier or lighter than a 115-pound kangaroo?
Things to keep in mind about the first grade math word problems
- These 1st grade word problems align with the common core standards. Students are exposed only to first grade math problems as they try to solve these problems using simple addition and simple subtraction.
- As students try to solve these first grade math word problems, they will also develop their reading comprehension at the same time.
- The topics that are covered mostly include addition word problems and subtraction word problems since these are the skills they need to master at that grade level.
- If students can solve at least 40 of these 45 first grade math word problems, you can conclude that the students have good critical thinking skills and are good at solving first grade math word problems.
- These word problems will expose every 1st-grader to situations he or she already encounters in everyday life.
- All word problems can be used in class as extra practice, homework, morning work, ,and incorporated in tests. As an alternative, you could put them one by one on the whiteboard and discuss the solution with the whole class.
- It is usually a bit challenging for young learners to tackle word problems. Be patient with them and give them time to process the information in the problems.
- All the problems are supposed to be simple word problems. If you think a problem is too tough for a kid in first grade, let me know.
- Get a PDF file of these word problems. You could also use it as a worksheet.