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Subtraction Within 5 Peanut Butter and Jelly Matching Activity

Peanut butter and jelly matching activity for subtraction within 5: students pair peanut butter jar cards showing problems with jelly jar cards showing answers, then solve 21 problems on a practice worksheet.
Subtraction Within 5 Peanut Butter and Jelly Matching Activity preview
Subtraction Within 5 Peanut Butter and Jelly Matching Activity preview

Look Inside · 10 pages

Subtraction Within Five Peanut Butter & Jelly cover with directions to cut out cards and match each problem to its answer
Read the directions aloud before students start cutting
Subtracting from 5: peanut butter jar cards show 5 - 5 and 5 - 4; students match each to a jelly jar card numbered 0 or 1
First card set: taking away all or most of five
Subtracting from 5: cut-out jar cards pair 5 - 3 and 5 - 2 on peanut butter jars with jelly jar cards showing 2 and 3
Print on cardstock so the jars hold up in a centre
Subtracting from 5: peanut butter jar cards 5 - 1 and 5 - 0 to solve and match with jelly jar cards numbered 4 and 5
Good prompt to discuss what happens when you take away zero
Subtracting from 4: matching cards with 4 - 4 and 4 - 3 on peanut butter jars and jelly jar answers 0 and 1 to cut out
Start of the take-from-four facts
Subtracting from 4: students solve 4 - 2 and 4 - 1 on peanut butter jar cards and pair with jelly jars showing 2 and 3
Partner game: one student holds jars, the other finds the match
Subtracting from 4 and 3: peanut butter jar cards 4 - 0 and 3 - 3 with jelly jar cards 4 and 0 for the matching game
Mixes zero facts from two different starting numbers
Subtracting from 3: cut-out cards match the peanut butter jar problems 3 - 2 and 3 - 1 to jelly jars numbered 1 and 2
Small-group practice with counters on hand for checking
Subtracting from 3 and 2: students solve 3 - 0 and 2 - 2 on peanut butter jar cards and find jelly jar answers 3 and 0
Use for a quick memory-style flip game
Subtracting from 2: final jar cards pair 2 - 1 and 2 - 0 on peanut butter jars with jelly jar cards showing 1 and 2
Last card set; store all pairs together in a bag
Year levels
Pre-school (Early Years), Years 1–3
File type
PDF
Preparation
Print ready

Updated Sep 18, 2026

Subject
Subtraction, Addition and Subtraction, Maths
Resource types
Activities
Preparation
Print ready
Australian Curriculum content descriptions
AC9M1N04 — add and subtract numbers within 20, using physical and virtual materials, part-part-whole…

From the author

About this resource

This activity is perfect for helping your students build subtraction fact fluency! With single digit problems, they will get the practice they need to feel confident in their abilities.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

  • Solve subtraction facts within 5

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Australian Curriculum (Version 9.0)

Australian Curriculum content descriptions

Australian Curriculum content descriptions

  • AC9M1N04 — add and subtract numbers within 20, using physical and virtual materials, part-part-whole knowledge to 10 and a variety of calculation strategies

Core concepts

  • Subtraction within 5

  • Fact fluency