Combining Like Terms Color by Number – 10 Questions

Combine like terms in linear expressions, including those requiring the distributive property first.

Simplify expressions containing both positive and negative coefficients.

Self-check simplification work by comparing a finished picture's colors against the intended design.

Each problem offers three plausible-looking answer choices (typically a sign error, a distribution error, and the correct answer), so this doubles as error-analysis practice — have students explain why the two incorrect options are common mistakes.

Hand out the answer key pages separately so students self-check by comparing their colored picture rather than copying answers directly.

Problems mix straightforward combining (questions 1, 2) with distributive-property expansion (questions 3, 6, 9), so sequence review accordingly if using it as a warm-up rather than all at once.

Combining like terms — students simplify linear expressions such as 6s + 4s − 9 − 2 into a single simplified term.

Distributive property — problems such as 2(5 + 3x) and 5(2k + 5) – 2(4k + 2) require expanding before combining terms.

Negative-coefficient arithmetic — several problems (e.g., −9g + 2g − 2 + 4, −4f − 19f) require correctly tracking negative signs through simplification.

Self-checking through color-coded answers — students verify their own simplification work by whether their picture colors match the intended design.