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PSPKK123February 8, 2018 •  10 Comments

Introduction to multiplication activity

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Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this fun activity!

Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this hands-on multiplication activity!

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through my link, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.

When you first start teaching multiplication, do you like to jump right into those math facts?

That’s a mistake.

It’s essential that students build an understanding of the concept of multiplication prior to memorizing the facts. They need to understand how to use multiplication in real situations before they start committing facts to memory. This way they’ll be more prepared to answer real world math problems – which is the whole point of learning those math facts!

Today I’m sharing a math center that allows students to practice representing and solving multiplication problems. And it uses something that many kids love – goldfish crackers.

(If you have an allergy issue or you prefer not to use food in the classroom, no worries! Use some kind of counter instead.)

Here’s how the activity works:

  1. Give each student a recording sheet, 5 pictures of goldfish bowls, the task cards, and about 50 goldfish (or counters).
  2. Their job is to read each task card and gather the appropriate number of goldfish bowls and goldfish crackers.
  3. Children need to distribute the goldfish crackers according to the card.
  4. Finally, students count the total number of goldfish and write a multiplication equation on the recording sheet.

Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this hands-on multiplication activity!

I had my son draw a task card and gather the correct number of goldfish bowls and fish. At first he grabbed only 8 total goldfish and began dividing them among the bowls. I pointed out that he needed 8 goldfish for each bowl.

Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this hands-on multiplication activity!

After he collected the correct amount of goldfish for a problem, he wrote the equation. (He was really thrown off by that word equation at first. I told him it was just a way of showing that two things are equal.)

Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this hands-on multiplication activity!

This is what it looked when when he drew the card that told him to get five goldfish bowls and put 2 goldfish in each bowl.

5 x 2 = 10

Teach your students the concept of multiplication with this hands-on multiplication activity!

He was happy to do this quick one! 1 x 9 = 9.

Teaching tips

  • Ask questions to focus your learners on the meanings of the numbers. For example, what does the 1 represent? (one goldfish bowl) What does the 9 represent? (9 goldfish)
  • Help your learners see that mutiplication has to do with groups. Another way to say “1 x 9” is “1 group of 9.”
  • If desired, tell your students how many task cards they need to do – rather than doing all 12.
  • Have students work in pairs and take turns writing the equations.
  • If you’d like, print a large supply of the black and white goldfish bowls. Then have students draw the number of fish for each problem rather than use manipulatives.

This activity was inspired by the wonderful book, Mastering the Basic Math Facts in Multiplication and Division, by Susan O’Connell and John SanGiovanni. I highly recommend it if you want to help your students learn more than basic memorization.

Get your free multiplication activity!

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Filed Under: Math, Multiplication & Division Tagged With: second grade, third grade

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Reader Interactions

10 Comments

  1. Desire van Zyl

    March 31, 2019 at 10:51 pm

    I love your activities. Thank you for sharing it. My kids absolutely love the activities we do in class. Love seeing what you come up with next! Many many thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  2. Lead Pencil

    February 11, 2019 at 10:34 pm

    I’m amazed that you are providing hundreds and hundreds of high quality free resources for parents or teachers. All your games are highly creative and kids enjoy them. Thank you for putting in so much effort and thought for us!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 12, 2019 at 6:35 pm

      You’re welcome!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Christine Knapp

    January 4, 2019 at 10:36 am

    The action alphabet cards are amazing! I am so glad you found them

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 12, 2019 at 11:56 am

      I’m so glad you like them, Christine!

      Reply to this comment
  4. Devi

    January 4, 2019 at 4:36 am

    Hi, Mom!

    I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH. You’ve helped me to be the best version of teacher and mother I can be. I’m really thankful to be your subscriber. May you will get so much goodness from the world you live in for you have already helped so many people including me :”)

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      January 12, 2019 at 11:50 am

      Thank you so much for your kind words, Devi!

      Reply to this comment
  5. Alice H Franco

    February 9, 2018 at 8:44 am

    Your activities are engaging and have been very successful for my students. Thank you for your generosity in sharing your creative lessons. You are an amazing resource !

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      February 10, 2018 at 7:43 am

      You’re very welcome, Alice! Thank you so much for the kind words!

      Reply to this comment

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