Bring subtraction to life with a hands-on, visual activity that blends maths and creativity! The Penguin Subtraction Within 10 & 20 Craft offers an engaging way for students to practise key subtraction facts while enjoying a fun, fine motor-rich art task. This resource is designed to support foundational maths understanding in an inviting and memorable way.

Check out this video below to see this resource in action.

Students will create a peckish penguin and fill its tummy with colourful fish to represent their subtraction problems. Whether they use tissue paper or the included printable fish, the focus remains firmly on mathematical thinking. Once complete, students write their number sentence to reflect how many fish their penguin has eaten – encouraging the connection between visual representation and abstract number work.

Perfect for Foundation to Year 2 classrooms, this resource includes both a worksheet-style version and a full cut-and-paste craft. That means you can cater to your students’ preferences, available materials, and instructional time. Use it as a display-worthy centrepiece for your classroom subtraction unit or as an individual follow-up to reinforce taught concepts.

Key Learning Outcomes

• ✅ Solve subtraction problems within 10 and 20
• ✅ Represent subtraction equations using visual models
• ✅ Practise fine motor skills through cutting, pasting, and assembling
• ✅ Strengthen number sense and mathematical vocabulary
• ✅ Connect concrete manipulatives with symbolic number sentences

What’s Included

• Two differentiated penguin subtraction craft options:
• - A worksheet-style version with printed fish collections
• - A full cut-and-paste version with a backing template
• Printable fish (for use if tissue paper is unavailable)
• Sentence prompts for recording subtraction number sentences
• A colourful classroom display banner to showcase student work
• Clear teacher instructions for setup and delivery

Materials Needed

• Printed templates from the Penguin Subtraction Within 10 & 20 Craft resource
• Glue sticks and scissors
• Coloured card or A3 paper for backing (optional)
• Tissue paper or the printable fish cut-outs
• Pencils or markers for recording number sentences

How to Use

1. Choose whether students will complete the worksheet version or the full craft option.
2. Provide each student with a penguin template and a set of fish (tissue paper or printed).
3. Instruct students to glue a chosen number of fish onto the penguin to represent the starting number (minuend).
4. Ask students to select a smaller number of those fish to represent what the penguin has eaten (subtrahend).
5. Once complete, students fill in the subtraction number sentence to show how many fish were eaten and how many are left.
6. Use the display banner provided to showcase completed penguins around your classroom.

Ideas for Classroom Use

• 💡 Use at the end of a subtraction unit as a summative visual task.
• 💡 Set up as a small group rotation to reinforce subtraction concepts while building fine motor skills.
• 💡 Display completed penguins as part of a maths wall, connecting visual learning with student voice.
• 💡 Integrate into a cross-curricular maths and art lesson to support creative expression.
• 💡 Use the worksheet version for early finishers or targeted support groups.

Top Teacher Tips

• 💛 Print the backing templates on coloured card for added visual appeal.
• 💛 Enlarge the templates to A3 for more room to decorate and write.
• 💛 Allow students to create their own subtraction story to accompany the craft.
• 💛 Use the printable fish if tissue paper is not available or to reduce prep time.
• 💛 Link this task with our Peckish Penguin Subtraction Within 10 Worksheets to build fluency before crafting!

With its playful visuals and real mathematical thinking, the Penguin Subtraction Within 10 & 20 Craft provides a purposeful and engaging way for students to explore subtraction and proudly show off their learning.