Summary: Bar Model Math turns part-whole addition and subtraction into ready-to-print worksheets: every problem is drawn as a bar, a ten frame or a number line, one number is hidden, and the child writes it in a single box. This walkthrough covers the three drawings, which number to hide, how a missing part is asked, the number bands, the page layout, answer tiles and the answer key.
Overview
A bar model shows how a whole splits into two parts. Hide one of the three numbers and the drawing becomes a question: what is the whole, or what is the missing part? Bar Model Math generates a page of those questions, numbers each one, and prints a matching answer key with every answer written into its box, ready for a classroom set, a homeschool pack or a workbook interior.
Each problem has two lines: the drawing on top and a number sentence underneath with one empty box for the answer. The drawing never prints the answer, so the child has to work it out. On the bar and the number line the hidden number shows as ?; the bar’s two part boxes are always the same width whatever the numbers, and the number line is drawn not to scale, so the child reasons from the numbers rather than measuring the picture. On the ten frame the answer is the total of the counters, so counting them is the strategy the page teaches.
Required Modules
Bar Model Math opens with either of two products:
- Visual Math Models — Bar Model Math together with Visual Fractions. Every Visual Math Models edition makes the bar model worksheets described here.
- Math Mystery — Bar Model Math is included in Math Mystery from Creative up (Math Mystery Creative and Math Mystery Productivity), together with six bar model skills for mystery pages.
Every edition that opens it makes the full worksheet set, exports PNG, JPG, SVG and print PDF with an answer key, and includes Instant Puzzle Books (a book PDF assembled straight from your current settings) and Puzzle Book Studio for one puzzle collection. Productivity adds Time Saver and JSON export, along with Puzzle Book Studio Productivity for books that combine several collections. You can move up to any higher edition later. See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
Commercial rights: the Standard and Creative editions both let you sell the finished worksheets and books you make to your own readers and customers, including on KDP, Etsy and Teachers Pay Teachers. Productivity includes that, plus selling or supplying the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers.
Preparation
Bar Model Math generates its own numbers, so you can start straight away. Decide three things first — which drawing suits your learners, how big the numbers should be, and whether the page asks for the whole, a missing part, or both. For a first run, keep the defaults (bar, the whole hidden, Easy, nine problems in three columns) and press Preview to see a page before you change anything.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Open the Module
Open the Math menu and choose Bar Model Math. Everything specific to this module is on the Main tab; the answer tiles are on Settings; Style and Layout work as in your other modules. Preview and Create sit at the bottom of the main window, as usual.
Choose the Drawing
On the Main tab, Drawing decides how every problem on the page is drawn:
- Bar (the default) — a shaded whole box on top, spanning two equal-width part boxes below it. The numbers are written inside the boxes.
- Ten frame — one 2×5 frame, or two stacked frames when the whole is over 10, filled with counters in two colours: the first part in dark blue, the second in light blue. The child counts the counters, so it is the most concrete of the three and suits the youngest learners. It always asks for the total (see Ten frame settings below).
- Number line — a line starting at 0 with two jumps: the first jump lands on the first part, the second on the whole. The jumps are labelled with the two parts (+3, +11), and the marks under the line read 0, the first part and the whole. Whichever number is hidden prints as ?: the end mark when the whole is hidden, the second jump (+?) when a part is hidden.
![A Bar Model Math number line worksheet: nine number lines from 0 with two labelled jumps, the second jump marked +? and the end mark showing the whole, each above a sentence such as 3 + [empty box] = 14](https://www.bookpublishertools.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/pmp-bar-model-number-line-puzzle-7131dee1-1.png.webp)
Choose the Hidden Number
Hidden number decides which number the child finds:
- The whole (the default) — the drawing shows both parts and the sentence reads
16 + 38 = ☐. - A part — the drawing shows the whole and the first part, and the child finds the second part: on the bar it is the right-hand box, on the number line the second jump. The first part is always the one shown, so to vary where the unknown sits, mix pages that hide the whole with pages that hide a part, or choose Mixed.
- Mixed — both kinds on one page, split as evenly as the problem count allows and shuffled, so any page of two or more problems carries both.
Choose How a Missing Part Is Asked
Missing part asked as sets the number sentence for a hidden part:
- Addition with a gap (the default) —
12 + ☐ = 30. - Subtraction —
30 − 12 = ☐. - Mixed — a page split between the two forms.
Subtraction and Mixed also decide what is hidden: choose Subtraction while Hidden number is on The whole and the page hides a part and asks it as subtraction; choose Mixed and the page mixes hidden wholes with hidden parts. For a page of plain “find the whole” additions, leave it on Addition with a gap. On the number line, a subtraction sentence is solved by counting up from the first part to the whole, a useful strategy to teach alongside taking away.
Set the Difficulty
Difficulty sets the number band — the largest whole on the page:
- Easy — wholes up to 20 (the default). As a typical guide, often used around Kindergarten and Grade 1.
- Medium — wholes up to 100. Often used around Grades 1 and 2.
- Hard — wholes up to 1,000. Often used around Grades 2 and 3.
Numbers are chosen at random inside the band, so pick the band by the size of numbers your learners handle, whatever their year group.
The ten frame has its own band, because it counts real counters: Easy uses one frame with wholes up to 10, and Medium goes up to 20, adding a second frame for wholes over 10. For numbers beyond 20, switch the drawing to the bar or the number line.
Ten frame settings, in one place: the ten frame always hides the total and always reads as an addition, a + b = ☐. So keep Hidden number on The whole, Missing part asked as on Addition with a gap, and Difficulty on Easy or Medium. If a setting falls outside that, the run tells you what to change instead of drawing something else.
Set Problems and Columns
Problems sets how many problems go on one sheet, from 1 to 30 (default 9). Columns sets how many columns they are laid out in, from 1 to 6 (default 3). Every problem is numbered automatically — 1), 2), 3) — in its top-left corner, on the worksheet and on the answer key, so marking a class set is quick. Nine problems in three columns gives a comfortable full page; for large print or the youngest learners, try four or six problems in two columns.
Add Answer Tiles (Optional)
On the Settings tab, Print answer tiles (off by default) adds a band of tiles below the problems: one tile per problem, carrying that problem’s answer, in shuffled order. Use them as a self-check or a cut-and-match task; leave them off for an assessment sheet, since the tiles show the answers.
With tiles on, every answer on the sheet is different, so the band never shows the same number twice. That caps the problem count at the number of distinct answers the settings can produce: a ten frame on Easy, for example, has nine possible totals (2 to 10), so it holds up to nine problems with tiles. If you ask for more, the run tells you the largest count that fits; lower Problems, raise the difficulty, or turn tiles off.
Style the Page
Besides the usual canvas, fill, line and font controls, the Style tab adds this module’s own: Whole box, Part boxes, Ten frame square, First part counters, Second part counters, Drawing outline, Answer box and Answer tile border. The defaults print cleanly in greyscale; change the two counter colours if your class uses its own colours for the two parts. The full styling workflow is covered in How to Customize Puzzle Designs in Puzzle Maker Pro.
Set the Title
Titles live on the Layout tab. Bar Model Math offers:
- Custom — your own text (the default; it starts as “Bar Model”)
- Bar Model — e.g. “Bar Model”
- Bar Model Difficulty — e.g. “Bar Model Easy”
- Difficulty — e.g. “Easy”
The same options fill the description, which defaults to “Find the missing number in each drawing and write it in the box.” How the control works is covered once in How to Create Smart Puzzle Titles in Puzzle Maker Pro. The Layout tab also holds the crop setting and a Use branding toggle (off unless you turn it on) that applies your branding template to this collection’s image.
Generate and Export
Set the quantity and press Create; formats and folder come from your usual output settings. Each sheet comes with its answer key: the same page with every answer written into its box, while the drawing stays as printed. The worksheet and its answer key are separate files, so they print separately.
Scale Up to a Book
One Create with a quantity of 20 gives you 20 worksheets and 20 answer keys, and Instant Puzzle Books turns the run into a book PDF using your trim size, margins and page layout. Puzzle Book Studio gives you page-by-page control over the same collection.
On Productivity, Time Saver runs several setups in one pass, one row per configuration — for example a section of Easy bars with the whole hidden, then Medium bars asking subtraction, then a page of number lines. Each row shows a one-line summary such as “Bar · Easy · A part as Subtraction · 9 problems · tiles”. The workflow is covered in How to Batch Create Puzzles with Time Saver.
Bar Models on Math Mystery Pages
With Math Mystery Creative or Math Mystery Productivity, the same drawings also appear as six Math Mystery skills — Bar model: find the whole, Bar model: find the missing part, Bar model: subtraction, Bar model: mixed, Ten frame: addition and Number line: addition — where each problem’s answer crosses off a tile until one is left over. See How to Create Math Mystery Worksheets in Puzzle Maker Pro.
Outcome
You have a run of numbered bar model, ten frame or number line worksheets, each with a matching answer key, pitched at the number band you chose and asking for the whole, a missing part, or both. Print them as they are, or drop the run into Instant Puzzle Books or Puzzle Book Studio for a finished workbook interior.
FAQ
Which product do I need for Bar Model Math?
Either Visual Math Models, at any edition, or Math Mystery from Creative up. Both make the same worksheets; Math Mystery Creative and above also add the six bar model skills to mystery pages.
Why did the ten frame refuse my settings?
The ten frame always asks for the whole and goes up to 20. Set Hidden number to The whole, Missing part asked as to Addition with a gap, and Difficulty to Easy or Medium — or switch to the bar or the number line to hide a part or use bigger numbers.
Can children work out the answer by measuring the drawing?
Not on the bar or the number line: the two part boxes of a bar are always the same width, the number line is drawn not to scale, and the hidden number shows as a question mark. On the ten frame, counting the counters is the intended method.
How do I make a subtraction worksheet?
Set Missing part asked as to Subtraction and use the bar or the number line. Each problem then reads like 30 − 12 = ☐, with the bar or number line showing the whole and one part.
How many problems fit with answer tiles?
Up to 30, as long as the settings can produce that many different answers. Small bands hold fewer — a ten frame on Easy holds nine — and the run tells you the largest count that fits.
What formats can I export?
PNG or JPG, plus SVG and print PDF, each with its answer key, on every edition. Productivity adds Time Saver and JSON export.