Three numbers in a row that add to a given total: which three? These free printable word problems introduce the idea that a run of numbers can be written from a single unknown, which is the trick every later one turns on.
If they get stuck
The answer key prints on a separate page.
Consecutive numbers are the cleanest place to practice defining a whole set from one letter. If the first is x, the next is x + 1 and the third x + 2, and three of them adding to forty-eight is one equation a child can solve. The insight — that you do not need three unknowns for three numbers — is worth more than the answer.
Even and odd runs are the useful twist. Consecutive even numbers go up in twos, so the set is x, x + 2, x + 4, and a child who reaches for x + 1 out of habit gets a run that is not even at all. Reading whether the story wants any numbers, or even ones, or odd ones, is the step that catches people out.
One question from a sheet like this one, worked a step at a time — with a sentence saying what just happened and why.
Consecutive number word problems, step by step