The Doubling Game: Adding a Number to Itself

If you had 3 stickers and your best friend gave you 3 more of the exact same stickers, how many would you have? You just doubled! Doubling means adding a number to itself, and once you know your doubles, addition gets a whole lot faster.

- What it means to "double" a number - How to double numbers from 1 to 10 - How doubling connects to counting by 2s - A quick way to use doubles to help with other addition

To double a number means to add it to itself one time. Double 2 is 2 + 2 = 4. Double 5 is 5 + 5 = 10. It's like looking in a mirror — whatever number you start with, you get the exact same amount again!

Think about your hands. Each hand has 5 fingers. Double 5 (one hand plus another hand) is 10 fingers total. Now think about a pair of shoes — 1 shoe doubled is 2 shoes, a whole pair. Doubling shows up everywhere: two eyes, two ears, two arms — your own body is full of doubles!

Doubling is closely connected to counting by 2s. When you count 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, you are actually listing the doubles of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in order! Double 1 = 2. Double 2 = 4. Double 3 = 6. Double 4 = 8. Double 5 = 10. Once you see this pattern, you can double numbers just by skip-counting.