Free Printable Abacus Worksheets and Manual

A free, printable Soroban beginner's manual for home and classroom use. It covers how to read the abacus, correct finger technique, the "small friends" and "big friends" complement rules, and four graded worksheets with answer keys. Print this page on A4 or Letter paper, or use it on screen alongside the interactive Soroban board.

Create a custom worksheet

1. Parts of the Soroban

Frame — the outer border that holds everything together.
Beam (reckoning bar) — the horizontal bar dividing upper and lower beads. Beads count only when they touch the beam.
Rods — each vertical rod is one place value. Reading right to left: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands…
Heaven bead — the single bead above the beam, worth 5.
Earth beads — the four beads below the beam, each worth 1.
Unit dots — marks on the beam every third rod. Pick one as your ones rod so numbers line up.

2. Reading Numbers 0–9 on One Rod

Bead positions for each digit (beads touching the beam are counted)
Digit	Beads at the beam
0	No beads touch the bar
1	1 earth bead up
2	2 earth beads up
3	3 earth beads up
4	4 earth beads up
5	Heaven bead down
6	Heaven bead down + 1 earth bead up
7	Heaven bead down + 2 earth beads up
8	Heaven bead down + 3 earth beads up
9	Heaven bead down + 4 earth beads up

To read a larger number, read each rod as a digit from left to right. For example, a heaven bead plus two earth beads on the tens rod and one earth bead on the ones rod shows 71.

3. Finger Technique

Thumb pushes earth beads up to the beam (adding 1s).
Index finger pulls earth beads down (taking away 1s) and moves the heaven bead up or down (5).
Keep the Soroban flat, sit up straight, and move one rod at a time from left to right.
Clear the board before each problem: tilt it toward you so all beads drop, then sweep the heaven beads up with your index finger along the beam.

More detail with pictures is in our Soroban techniques lesson.

4. Small Friends — Complements of 5

When there are not enough earth beads to add a number directly, use its "small friend": the number that makes 5 with it. Add the heaven bead (5) and take away the friend.

Small friends: pairs that make 5
Number	Friend	To add	To subtract
1	4	+1 = +5 − 4	−1 = −5 + 4
2	3	+2 = +5 − 3	−2 = −5 + 3
3	2	+3 = +5 − 2	−3 = −5 + 2
4	1	+4 = +5 − 1	−4 = −5 + 1

Example: 3 + 4. Only one earth bead is free, so add 5 and take away 1 (the friend of 4). The rod shows 7.

5. Big Friends — Complements of 10

When the answer on a rod would go past 9, use the "big friend": the number that makes 10. Take the friend away on this rod and add 1 on the rod to the left (which is worth 10).

Big friends: pairs that make 10
Number	Friend	To add	To subtract
1	9	+1 = −9 + 10	−1 = +9 − 10
2	8	+2 = −8 + 10	−2 = +8 − 10
3	7	+3 = −7 + 10	−3 = +7 − 10
4	6	+4 = −6 + 10	−4 = +6 − 10
5	5	+5 = −5 + 10	−5 = +5 − 10
6	4	+6 = −4 + 10	−6 = +4 − 10
7	3	+7 = −3 + 10	−7 = +3 − 10
8	2	+8 = −2 + 10	−8 = +2 − 10
9	1	+9 = −1 + 10	−9 = +1 − 10

Example: 8 + 6. Take away 4 (the friend of 6) from the ones rod to leave 4, then add 1 on the tens rod. The board shows 14.

Worksheet 1 — Direct Addition (no friends needed)

Name: ____________________Date: __________Time: ______Score: ____ / 20

Every problem can be done by simply pushing beads toward the bar.

4 + 5 =
1 + 6 =
3 + 6 =
0 + 8 =
2 + 1 =
2 + 6 =
8 + 1 =
1 + 1 =
0 + 2 =
0 + 7 =
0 + 4 =
0 + 6 =
1 + 8 =
2 + 7 =
6 + 3 =
1 + 3 =
3 + 5 =
1 + 5 =
6 + 1 =
2 + 2 =

Worksheet 2 — Small Friends (complements of 5)

Name: ____________________Date: __________Time: ______Score: ____ / 20

Work rod by rod from left to right. When a rod has too few earth beads, add 5 and take away the small friend.

83 + 13 =
23 + 41 =
64 + 14 =
34 + 61 =
10 + 47 =
41 + 37 =
25 + 33 =
45 + 42 =
53 + 23 =
13 + 54 =
40 + 11 =
26 + 42 =
43 + 11 =
23 + 24 =
40 + 16 =
74 + 24 =
43 + 32 =
36 + 31 =
10 + 45 =
43 + 44 =

Worksheet 3 — Big Friends (complements of 10)

Name: ____________________Date: __________Time: ______Score: ____ / 20

Use the big-friends table: to add n, take away its partner and add 10 on the next rod.

7 + 8 =
9 + 8 =
5 + 6 =
6 + 4 =
8 + 6 =
8 + 9 =
8 + 7 =
4 + 6 =
7 + 6 =
4 + 7 =
7 + 5 =
9 + 5 =
7 + 3 =
9 + 7 =
8 + 2 =
9 + 2 =
6 + 9 =
5 + 7 =
7 + 7 =
3 + 8 =

Worksheet 4 — Mixed Column Sums (2-digit)

Name: ____________________Date: __________Time: ______Score: ____ / 12

Add and subtract top to bottom, the way abacus competitions present problems.

92 +19 +62 ────
68 +78 +32 ────
61 +77 +35 ────
67 +88 +24 ────
99 +13 −38 ────
29 +13 +41 ────
24 +37 −37 ────
73 +86 −28 ────
37 +88 +80 ────
53 +98 −22 ────
20 +35 +84 ────
41 +91 +29 ────

Answer Keys

Worksheet 1: 1) 9 2) 7 3) 9 4) 8 5) 3 6) 8 7) 9 8) 2 9) 2 10) 7 11) 4 12) 6 13) 9 14) 9 15) 9 16) 4 17) 8 18) 6 19) 7 20) 4

Worksheet 2: 1) 96 2) 64 3) 78 4) 95 5) 57 6) 78 7) 58 8) 87 9) 76 10) 67 11) 51 12) 68 13) 54 14) 47 15) 56 16) 98 17) 75 18) 67 19) 55 20) 87

Worksheet 3: 1) 15 2) 17 3) 11 4) 10 5) 14 6) 17 7) 15 8) 10 9) 13 10) 11 11) 12 12) 14 13) 10 14) 16 15) 10 16) 11 17) 15 18) 12 19) 14 20) 11

Worksheet 4: 1) 173 2) 178 3) 173 4) 179 5) 74 6) 83 7) 24 8) 131 9) 205 10) 129 11) 139 12) 161

10-Minute Daily Practice Plan

2 minutes — warm-up: set and clear the numbers 0–9, then 10–99, saying each aloud.
5 minutes — worksheet: complete one worksheet row. Stop if accuracy drops; accuracy matters more than speed.
2 minutes — check: mark answers with the key and redo any mistakes on the abacus.
1 minute — mental picture: close your eyes and "see" one problem on an imaginary Soroban. This is the first step toward mental math (Anzan).

Once Worksheet 3 feels easy, move on to subtraction and then multiplication, and use the Soroban Challenge game for timed practice.