Place Value Factory

Bundle and unbundle base-ten blocks while keeping their total value unchanged.

Grades 3–5 · Math

Explore one idea

Place Value Factory

Your goal

Trade to show 0 hundreds, 1 tens, and 2 ones. Keep the total 12.

1 of 3
0 hundred squares, 0 ten rods, and 12 unit blocks total 120 hundreds0 tens12 ones0 + 0 + 12 = 12

Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.

0 hundreds + 0 tens + 12 ones = 12. Every trade keeps the same value.

The small squares are ones. A ten rod contains 10 ones. A hundred square contains 10 tens. Only trade the blocks already in your factory. Block groups are enlarged by different amounts to keep them easy to see.

Learn with Place Value Factory

Place Value Factory helps students regroup a fixed amount using hundreds, tens, and ones. Trade ten smaller units for one larger unit, or break a larger unit into smaller units, while watching the total value remain unchanged. The activity makes base-ten relationships visible and encourages children to explain why different arrangements can represent the same number. Elementary learners can practice the reasoning behind regrouping for addition and subtraction without confusing the number of blocks with their combined value.

What to look for

Trade ten ones

Ten individual ones can be exchanged for one ten.

Trade ten tens

Ten tens can be exchanged for one hundred.

Keep the value

Bundling or unbundling changes the blocks you see, not the number they represent.

For teachers and curious learners

Understand regrouping in the base-ten number system. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.

Blocks represent exact whole-number base-ten values within the activity's bounds. Their drawing is a counting model, not a measurement of physical size.

Continue with Place Value Explorer .

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