What are hundreds, tens and ones?

The three places in a three-digit number. In 352, the 3 is in the hundreds place (300), the 5 in the tens place (50) and the 2 in the ones place (2).

How many tens are in a hundred?

10. Ten rods of 10 make one flat of 100.

Why is there a 0 in 305?

There are no tens. The 0 holds the tens place, so the 3 stays in the hundreds place. Without it, the number would be 35.

How do you teach hundreds, tens and ones?

Use base-ten blocks or bundles of sticks. Build numbers, then write them in a three-column chart with H, T and O.

What grade learns hundreds, tens and ones?

Grade 2 under Common Core 2.NBT.A.1. In India it is class 3, in the chapters “House of Hundreds”.

Hundreds, tens and ones

A three-digit number is made of hundreds, tens and ones. In 352, the 3 means 3 hundreds. Quiz for kids, parent help below.

🧒 Kids: flats, rods and cubes!

A big flat square is 100, a rod is 10 and a small cube is 1. 3 flats, 0 rods and 5 cubes make 305. Then try the quiz!

▶ Quiz 🔢 More practice 🧮 Calculator

💡 Trick: Draw boxes for hundreds, tens and ones. Fill each box, and put 0 in any empty one!

More on place value: Tens and ones · Hundreds, tens and ones · Expanded form · Number names · Place value and face value

For parents and teachers ↓

This part is for grown-ups: the key idea, pictures to draw, what to say, common mistakes, questions with answers and a free worksheet.

The trick: draw three boxes

Before writing a three-digit number, draw three boxes labelled H, T and O. Fill in each box from the picture or the words. An empty box gets a 0. This one habit stops most three-digit mistakes.

3 hundreds, 5 tens, 2 ones: 352
3 hundreds, 0 tens, 5 ones: 305
6 hundreds, 4 tens, 0 ones: 640
9 hundreds, 0 tens, 0 ones: 900

Patterns to spot

10 ones make 1 ten, and 10 tens make 1 hundred.
Each place is worth 10 times the place to its right.
100 more than a number only changes the hundreds digit: 245, 345, 445.
A number ending in 00 is a whole number of hundreds.
The smallest three-digit number is 100 and the biggest is 999.
In 777, the same digit is worth 700, 70 and 7.

Key words

Hundred: a group of 10 tens, or 100 ones. A flat square of base-ten blocks.
Hundreds place: the left digit of a three-digit number. In 352 it is 3, worth 300.
Placeholder: a 0 that shows an empty place and keeps the other digits in the right places, like the 0 in 305.
Three-digit number: a number from 100 to 999.
Base ten: our number system, where each place is worth 10 of the place to its right.

Why it matters: Three-digit numbers are where place value really starts to matter. Column addition and subtraction, rounding, and every bigger number use the same idea: 10 of one place make 1 of the next.

See it: pictures to draw with your child

Draw these on paper, or build them with sticks, blocks or coins. Seeing the groups makes the digits make sense.

352 with base-ten blocks: 3 flats, 5 rods and 2 cubes.

In a place value chart, each digit sits in its own column with its value underneath.

240: 2 hundreds, 4 tens and no ones, so the ones digit is 0.

What your child already knows

Children already know tens and ones for numbers up to 99. Hundreds is the same idea one step bigger: 10 tens bundled together make a hundred, just as 10 ones make a ten.

In real life: ₹100 notes, $100 bills and 100-page notebooks are all hundreds. A price of ₹352 is 3 ₹100 notes, 5 ₹10 notes and 2 ₹1 coins.

Zero holds the place

The number 305 has 3 hundreds, no tens and 5 ones. The 0 says “no tens”, and it keeps the 3 in the hundreds place.

Without the 0, the number would be 35, which is a very different amount. The two charts below show the same digits 3 and 5 in different places.

305: the 0 holds the tens place.

35: with no hundreds, the 3 is worth only 30.

Children often write “three hundred five” with an extra zero, as 3 then 00 then 5, or leave the zero out and write 35. Ask them to draw three empty boxes for hundreds, tens and ones first, then fill each one.

Worked examples

Example 1: Read the blocks

There are 4 flats, 2 rods and 6 cubes.
Flats are hundreds: 400.
Rods are tens: 20.
Cubes are ones: 6.
The number is 426.

Example 2: Split a number

How many hundreds, tens and ones are in 708?
Read from the left: 7 hundreds, 0 tens and 8 ones.
The 0 means there are no tens.

Example 3: Words to a number

Write five hundred sixty.
Draw H, T, O boxes.
Five hundred goes in H: 5.
Sixty is 6 tens: 6 in T.
No ones: 0 in O.
The number is 560.

Common mistakes

Writing what you hearWrites three hundred five as 300 followed by 5, an extra zero.Fix: draw three boxes: 3 in H, 0 in T, 5 in O makes 305.

Dropping the zeroWrites 4 hundreds and 6 ones as 46.Fix: the tens box is empty, so it gets a 0: 406.

Counting flats as tensCounts 2 flats, 3 rods and 1 cube as 51.Fix: each flat is 100: 200 + 30 + 1 = 231.

What to say to your child

A short script for your first session. Pause after each line and let your child answer.

“How many tens make a hundred?” (10.)
“What does the 3 in 352 mean?” (3 hundreds, or 300.)
“And the 5?” (5 tens, or 50.)
“How do we write 4 hundreds and 7 ones?” (407, with a 0 for the tens.)
“Which digit changes if we add 100?” (The hundreds digit.)

Questions to try (answers below)

Ask these out loud or write them down. The last one is a stretch.

2 hundreds, 4 tens, 8 ones
6 hundreds, 0 tens, 3 ones
How many hundreds in 581?
What is the value of the 7 in 274?
What is the value of the 7 in 742?
Write nine hundred four in digits.
How many tens in 350 altogether?
Which is bigger, 309 or 390?
Stretch: 4 hundreds and 12 tens

Show the answers

248
603
5
70
700
904
35
390
520 (12 tens is 1 hundred and 2 tens)

Games to play at home

Price tags

Write prices up to ₹999 or $999 and pay with play notes of 100, 10 and 1. Use as few notes as possible.

Biggest number

Roll a die three times. Arrange the three digits to make the biggest number, then the smallest. Who can make the biggest?

Build it

Say a number like 413. Your child builds it with blocks, coins or drawn squares, sticks and dots.

A 5-day plan for hundreds, tens and ones

Ten minutes a day is enough. Short, regular practice works far better than one long session.

Day 1: Learn it with the pictures above: draw them on paper or build them with blocks, and talk them through.
Day 2: Read the script together, then ask the first four questions.
Day 3: Do the quiz at the top of the page and read the working for anything missed.
Day 4: Play one of the games at home for ten minutes.
Day 5: Ask the rest of the questions, then do a round of the matching practice skill.

By grade

Grade 2 (Common Core 2.NBT.A.1) understands three-digit numbers as hundreds, tens and ones, and that 10 tens make a hundred. In India, the NCERT class 3 chapters “House of Hundreds I” and “II” teach the same ideas.

CBSE families: see the class 3 parent guides for House of Hundreds I and House of Hundreds II.

More for each grade: Grade 2 math and the CBSE class 2 maths guide.