The Cookie Jar game helps students learn subtraction through a simple and meaningful story. In the game, cookies are placed in a jar and then a sneaky thief comes along and steals some of them. Students must figure out how many cookies remain in the jar. This context helps students understand subtraction as taking away from a starting quantity. Research on early arithmetic learning shows that children often begin solving subtraction problems by modeling the situation and gradually move toward counting strategies as they become more comfortable working with numbers. Instructional materials such as those developed by TERC describe how students naturally progress from using objects to using counting strategies when solving subtraction problems. You can read more about this progression here: https://invcourse.terc.edu/cfcc/cfcc_s2.html.
One of the most important early subtraction strategies students develop is counting back. Counting back means starting with the total number and moving backward one step for each item removed. In the Cookie Jar game, students can practice this strategy by starting at the total number of cookies and counting backward for each cookie the thief steals. To support this thinking, a number line is provided at the bottom of the screen, which students can use to track their backward jumps as they subtract. Research on children’s counting strategies shows that counting procedures form the foundation of early arithmetic understanding and help students build toward more efficient mental strategies (https://eurekamag.com/research/084/859/084859453.php). Guidance on teaching subtraction with tools such as number lines can also be found in resources from the Maine Department of Education: https://www.maine.gov/doe/pl/math/subtraction.
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