Printable Place Value Chart

A place value chart with columns from ones up to millions, optional decimal places, color-coded periods and blank rows to write numbers in.

1 page

Print at “Actual size” for the exact line height. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

How to make a place value chart

Choose the largest place Hundreds for grade 1–2, thousands for grade 3, millions for grades 4–5.
Add decimals Tenths, hundredths or thousandths for decimal work.
Set the rows Small, medium or large rows to write digits in.
Print Download the PDF; wide charts switch to landscape automatically.

How place value works

Each column is worth ten times the column to its right. In 4,352 the 4 means 4 thousands, the 3 means 3 hundreds, the 5 means 5 tens and the 2 means 2 ones. Writing each digit in its own column makes the value of every digit visible, which helps with comparing numbers, rounding and regrouping.

Periods

Digits are grouped in threes called periods (ones, thousands, millions), which is where the commas go when you write a large number. The chart colors each period so children can read 2,405,318 as “two million, four hundred five thousand, three hundred eighteen”.

Decimals

To the right of the decimal point the pattern continues: tenths, hundredths, thousandths, each one tenth of the column to its left. Line up the decimal point when comparing 0.4 and 0.35 and it is clear that 0.4 (4 tenths) is larger.

Activities

Roll dice and write the digits in the columns to build the biggest or smallest number.
Write a number, then show it as expanded form: 4,352 = 4,000 + 300 + 50 + 2.
Multiply and divide by 10 by sliding digits one column left or right.