Printable number line

What is a number line?

A number line is a line with marks at equal distances, each with its number, in increasing order from left to right. It helps children count, compare, add and subtract with jumps. On this page you can print number lines from 0 to 10, 0 to 20, 0 to 100, with negative numbers and with fractions.

How to use it

1. Pick the numbers: 0 to 10, 0 to 20, 0 to 100, negatives (−10 to 10) or fractions (0 to 2).
2. Pick the layout: filled in, fill-in, blank or jumps.
3. Pick the size: sheet, with several lines, or strips, with one large line to cut out.
4. On the fill-in and jumps layouts, tap Shuffle the sheet to change the gaps and the exercises.
5. Tick the answer option if you also want to print the solved sheet.
6. Tap Print the sheet. In the print window, keep the scale at 100% (or choose Fit to page on Letter paper).

The four layouts

• Filled in: six lines per sheet, with every number. From 0 to 100, the sheet has one line counting by tens and five stretches of 20 numbers. Cut them apart and glue one into each notebook or onto each desk.
• Fill-in: about half of the numbers become an empty box. The answer sheet shows what is missing.
• Blank: just the line and the marks, for the child to number or for you to build your own activity.
• Jumps: five exercises such as "start at 3 and make 4 jumps of 1 forward". The child draws the arcs above the line and writes where they land. The answer sheet has the arcs drawn.

The large line in strips

• Each strip has a letter. Cut along the dashed line and join the strips in alphabetical order, with tape on the back.
• The marks sit in the middle of equal boxes. That keeps the space between numbers the same where two strips meet.
• The 0 to 100 line prints as 11 strips on two sheets and is over 1.80 m long once joined. The length of each line is printed at the bottom of the sheet.
• On the wall, the class makes the jumps with a finger or a clothespin. That is why the large line comes filled in, fill-in or blank, without the jump exercises.

Activity ideas with the number line

• Add with jumps forward and subtract with jumps backward: 7 + 5 means starting at 7 and making 5 jumps of 1.
• Count by twos on the 0 to 20 line and by tens on the 0 to 100 line. It is a good first step toward the times tables.
• Which is closer? Mark 37 on the 0 to 100 line and ask whether it is closer to 30 or to 40.
• On the negatives line, use the idea of temperature or of floors in a building with a basement garage.
• On the fractions sheet, the three lines share the same scale. Compare from top to bottom: 1/2 sits at the same place as 2/4 and 5/10.

How the fraction lines work

The sheet has three lines from 0 to 2: one split into halves, one into fourths and one into tenths. Each whole measures 8 cm on all three.

Fractions are written with the denominator of their own line, not simplified: 2/4, 6/4, 15/10. That way the child counts the parts and compares equivalent fractions by position.

Frequently asked questions