Balance Scale

Some of Nik's math problems have been giving him a bit of trouble.  He does excellent with the following types of problems:

2 + 3 = __
5 - 2 = __
__ + 4 = 4
__ - 2 = 2
2 + 2 + 1 = __
5 - 2 - 3 = __
3 - 2 + 2 = __

But if he sees problems like the following he gets very confused:

2 + 3 = __ + 1
5 - 2 = 4 - __
4 - __ = 3 - 0

So to help him out, I drew a balance scale similar to those he has seen in other MEP problems and told him that both sides of the equation need to be equal to each other (or balanced).  I think he gets it!  Woohoo!  I'm going to make up a sheet of problems for him to do tomorrow to see if he did truly get it.

Here's a pic of the balance scale. I have no idea why the paper looks pink, though!  lol  It was just a white sheet of cardstock.