Teaching multiplication and division can be a challenge, but with patience and creativity you can make these math concepts accessible and fun for students. In today’s blog post we are serving up some tips to make learning multiplication and division easy and fun. In addition, we are sharing a series of videos from our YouTube channel with practical exercises to teach these math concepts.
Tips for Teaching Multiplication and Division
- Understand the developmental stage of each child. Children pass through different levels of cognitive development and math skills at different rates. It’s essential to know the individual capabilities of each student in order to tailor lessons to their specific needs. On the Smile and Learn platform, you can create personalized learning paths adapted to each student.
- Use visual aids and manipulables. Visual aids are the best allies when teaching multiplication and division. We can use everyday objects such as blocks, drawings and other visual aids so that children can really touch and experience these mathematical operations.
- Give examples of math in the real world. Connecting math concepts to real world situations will help students understand why multiplication and division are important in everyday life. For example, we can split toys or cookies equally among students, or calculate the area of real spaces.
- Games and play. As we mentioned here, learning through play has been shown to be extremely effective (and fun). The use of interactive apps such as Smile and Learn or using videos that break down math problems helps children feel motivated and participate actively in the classroom.
- Repetition and repeated, gradual practice. Consistent practice makes perfect! Start with simple problems and gradually increase complexity as students gain confidence. Also, establish a regular math time to keep students motivated and help them to retain information better.
Multiplication and Division for Children
Multiplication
Multiplication is essentially adding a number over and over again. To introduce this concept to young children, you can use everyday objects, such as building blocks. For example, if you have 3 square blocks with 6 sides each, you can visually demonstrate that 3 blocks x 6 sides means adding three 6’s together (6+6+6), for a total of 18 sides.
In this video with Smile and Learn’s Wizard’s Apprentice, children will see how easy it is to multiply, as well as learn the parts of a multiplication problem.
Division
Division is essentially splitting an amount into equal parts. You can use bananas to illustrate this concept. If you have 12 bananas and you want to share them equally among 4 friends, that’s 12 ÷ 4. It’s clear that you give each friend 3 bananas.
In this video the Smile and Learn monkeys will teach children how to divide using several examples like the one above.
Interactive math problems
Using fun and educational apps and online games designed by teachers helps reinforce math concepts such as multiplication and division. Here are two examples:
At Smile and Learn we have a multitude of educational resources that will help children learn multiplication and division. In addition, on our platform you will find more than 12,000 activities that cover curricular content, develop key competencies and much more!
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