Teaching your child an important skill like multiplying is rewarding. It is exciting to see him progress from addition and subtraction to understanding the basics of multiplication a short time later. Your child may feel some anxiety about learning a new skill, but reassure him that he will learn multiplication. Before teaching your child multiplication, research the method that will work best for you and your child.
Step 1
Teach your child the concept of multiplication. Use household objects to demonstrate how multiplication works. Give your child 20 pennies and ask her to put them in groups of two. Ask her to count how many groups of two pennies she has. She should respond with ten.
Ask her how many pennies are in each group. She will say two. Explain that multiplication is putting numbers in groups rather than counting them individually and that she can rearrange the groups using the associative principle, such as 2 --- 10 = 20 as does 10 --- 2. Repeat with other number combinations.
Step 2
Make a skip counting chart for your child. Use large graph paper to write the multiples of each number from one to ten in a column. Write "5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50" for the five column. Repeat with other numbers.
Go over one or two columns each day until your child has memorized the pattern. Knowing how to skip count will make memorizing his multiplication tables easier as he already knows the answers, advises Jeremy Kilpatrick, author of the book "Adding It Up."
Step 3
Use flashcards to teach your child to memorize her multiplication facts once she understands the concept of multiplication. Make flashcards and separate them by fact. Start with the 1's, 5's and 10's. Keep your sessions short and fun.
Challenge her to move quickly through the cards by providing her with a sticker for quick work. At first, let her see the answers to the facts to give her a visual picture of the problem and answer. Teach her that the answers to the nine facts add up to nine and multiplying by zero always equals zero.
Step 4
Use a deck of playing cards without face cards and jokers to play multiplication war. Turn over the top card in your pile and whoever multiplies the two numbers first wins that hand. Purchase a multiplication bingo game or allow your child to play multiplication games on your computer. Supervise him while he uses the computer to make certain he is learning the facts and not just playing.
Step 5
Show your child how you use multiplication during your daily routine. Explain that you multiply serving sizes when preparing food for the family and use multiplication facts when doing your family budgeting. Let her use multiplication to calculate how many cookies to take to a function if there are six people attending and each person gets three cookies. Provide her with real life scenarios that will help her understand the value of multiplication.
Tips and Warnings
- Use candy, crackers or small toys when teaching your child to group objects together. Post a multiplication chart on your refrigerator so you child sees it during the day. Ask your child to recite multiplication facts while you are driving to activities. Begin teaching your child that the opposite of multiplication is division.
- Be aware of any tendency for your child to reverse his numbers. Do not get frustrated with your child.
Things You'll Need
- Pennies
- Skip counting chart
- Flashcards
- Playing cards
- Multiplication bingo
- Computer
References
- Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Basic Number Facts and Operations
- "Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics"; Jeremy Kilpatrick; 2001
- Bucks County Community College: Flash Cards
- Rutgers University: New Jersey Mathematics Coalition: Standard 8-Numberical Operations-Grades 3 and 4
