Let's have fun with this subtraction problem! 🎉 1. Imagine you have 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 (12 apples). 2. Now, you give away 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 (4 apples) to your friend. Let's take these apples away. 3. So, we start with 12 apples and take away 4 apples. This is written as: $$12 - 4$$ 4. Let's see how many apples are left: **Box 1:** (12 apples) ➖ **Box 2:** (4 apples) = **Total box:** 5. So, $12 - 4 = 8$. You have 8 apples left! Great job! 🎉🍎