Math is a tough subject for children of all ages. It confuses, befuddles, and stuns even the smartest child. So, teaching second-grade math is no easy task. Fortunately, there are lots of word problems to introduce to your class. You might want to give one new word problem each day to help challenge your students. So, what math word problems could you try in class?

1. Terry has 3 teddy bears. He is given 3 more for Christmas. How many bears does Terry have?
2. Debra bakes cakes for her classmates. She has 8 chocolate cakes, 2 with sprinkles, and 2 plain cakes. How many cakes does Debra have in total?
3. Zara is allowed to borrow 4 books. She gives 2 back and borrows another 5. How many books does she need to give back?
4. David has 15 pieces of fruit. 4 strawberries, 3 blueberries, and the rest are apples. How many apples does David have?
5. Carol has 12 pens. Paul has 8 more than Carol. James has 2 pens, and Chris has 5 more than James. How many pens are there in total?
6. Wayne has 15 marbles. Jeff has 8. After they play a game of marbles, both lose 4 marbles each. How many marbles are there in total?
7. Katie visited the zoo and saw 4 crocodiles, 6 flamingos, and 20 elephants. How many animals did Kate see in total?
8. Roy buys 5 tickets for a concert. 3 went to his brothers. How many tickets are left over?
9. Sophie has 5 glasses of orange juice. She drinks 2 in the morning and 1 at lunch. How many glasses of orange juice does she have left?
10. Mrs. Jones writes a sequence: green, blue, red, purple, green, blue, red. What color comes next?
11. Lana buys 13 tickets for a play. Johnny buys 38. How many tickets have been purchased in total?
12. A ticket to the school play costs $2.50. Nina buys 10 tickets. How much does it cost her?
13. 87 second-grade children go on a field trip. 43 are boys. How many are girls?
14. There are 53 apples in an orchard. 28 are picked. How many are left?
15. Violet swims 7 laps on Friday, 24 laps on Saturday, and 38 laps on Sunday. How many laps did Violet swim?
16. Steven reads each week. On Monday, he reads for 10 minutes. Tuesday, he reads for 15 minutes; on Wednesday, he spends 20 minutes reading. So, following the trend, how long does he read on Thursday and Friday?
17. Kristina sells 30 boxes of chocolates. Michael sells 45. How much more does Michael sell than Kristina?
18. 10 birds are resting on a bird feeder. Half fly away. How many are left behind?
19. Eric buys 5 toy cars on Tuesday. By Friday, he breaks 3. His mother buys 7 more. What’s the total number of toy cars?
20. Caroline buys 13 Christmas cards. She buys 5 more and gives 7 away. How many cards does she have left?
21. Kate has 22 bowls of porridge. 7 she gives to her extended family. 4 is given to friends, and she eats 2 bowls. How many bowls of porridge are left?
22. 875 people visit a carnival at the weekend. 549 people attend the carnival on Saturday. How many people attend on Sunday?
23. 1000 newspapers are delivered to a store each week. 679 newspapers are purchased in the week. How many newspapers are left at the end of the week?
24. A train departs at 7.30 a.m. and is scheduled to take 4 hours to arrive at the next station. What is the arrival time?
25. It’s 9.45 a.m. when Rita’s flight leaves. It takes 4 and a half hours to reach New York City. What is the landing time of the plane?
26. 15 soda drinks are purchased by Sara. She gives 3 to her sisters and another 6 to her friends. How many drinks are left?
27. There are 40 children scheduled to go on a field trip. 12 fall sick and are unable to attend. 3 don’t return their permission slips. What’s the total number of children on the trip?
28. 15 puppies are in a pet store. 3 are sold within a week. Another 5 are chosen in the second week. How many puppies are left?
29. There are 31 children in a class. Half of them fall sick. How many children are left in the class?
30. A plane departs at 7.40 p.m. and takes 5 hours to arrive at its destination. What time should the plane arrive?
31. Jessica has $3.00. She buys a soda for $0.89 and a bar of chocolate for $0.99. How much money does Jessica have left?
32. Melissa bought 4 shirts and spent a total of $25.00. 1 shirt costs $5.50. 2 shirts cost a total of $12.50. How much was spent on the last shirt?
33. Jane and Mark have 48 sweets. The children half the sweets between them. How many sweets does each child get?
34. Daisy has 32 dolls sitting on a shelf. She donates some to a local charity, and 8 are left. How many dolls did she donate?
35. Mark and Jerry have 8 soccer balls. 1 gets burst, and 2 are kicked on top of a neighbor’s roof. How many balls do Mark and Jerry have left?
36. Janice buys a dessert for a birthday party. She splits the dessert into 18 pieces. 12 pieces of dessert are eaten at the party. How many pieces are left?
37. Daryl has 12 comic books. He gives 3 to fiends and buys 4 more. How many comics does Daryl have at home?
38. Jake buys 2 books. Sam buys 3 more. Is there an odd or even number of books?
39. 7 cars are parked in the street. 2 are red, and the others are silver. How many silver cars are there?
40. John and Judy leave for school at 7.30 and arrive at 8.15. How long does it take to get to school?
41. Cherry loves to eat cake. She buys a large cake for her family. She hands over $5.00 and receives $2.75 back in change. How much did the cake cost?
42. Sandy has a 12-disc CD holder. Sandy has 36 CDs. How many CD holders does Sandy need?
43. 29 students go out for pizza. Each pizza gives 8 slices. How many pizzas are required to feed the students?
44. Jane orders a 32-piece dish set. When they arrive, 7 plates are broken. 2 bowls are warped, and 5 cups are chipped. How many dishes are left in the set?
45. A newspaper creates 500 copies for its New York office. Half of the newspapers are sold, and 25 are accidentally lost in transit. How many papers are left over?
46. 125 people use an escalator in a store each day. How many people in total use the escalator in 5 days?
47. A music band has 5 members. 2 are girls. How many are boys?
48. A Christmas tree has 100 lights. 3 bulbs break, and 12 don’t light up anymore. How many lights work on a tree?
49. Caroline bakes 200 cakes. Half of them are chocolate. 12 are vanilla, and the rest are strawberry cakes. How many are strawberry cakes?
50. 3 toy trucks cost $12.00 in total. How much does each truck cost?