Children who are ready to work with a long string of numbers could do the addition mentally, but many children will need to find a strategy for keeping a progressive total. Young children could start the activity by placing the corresponding number of counters on each square. The counters are then picked up as the child follows a particular path. Encourage them to keep a running total that can then be checked by counting at the end.

As an extension, ask the children to rearrange the numbers in the grid to allow a lower-total pathway and a higher-total pathway.