Playdate 39: Multiplying 1-5 by 1-5
Playdate focus
Do mental multiplication with your child for any two numbers from 1 to 5. This is the beginning of mastering multiplication!
Storybook properties
This has skip counting, shapes, and colors.
Activities properties
These involve addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Number Scramble can now involve all three of these operations. War using multiplication should only use the cards from 1 to 5 until your child is comfortable with larger numbers.
It’s exciting
Your child now has all the tools they need to master multiplying any number from 1 to 5 by any number from 1 to 5. That is an exciting place to be for a young child. Let’s review all the things they know that support this.
Order does not matter
When you multiply, it doesn’t matter whether you multiply 3 time 4 or 4 times 3, the result is the same. This is a big work saver and it allows your child to pick their favorite way to multiply things. For example, if they want to calculate 2 times 5 by doubling 5, that’s fine. However, if they prefer to skip count by 2’s five times, that’s fine as well.
Have your child look at a picture of 2 rows of 3 dots. Whether you have 2 rows of 3 dots, or 3 rows of 2 dots, you have the same total of 6 dots. All you need to do is turn the picture half way around to see that they are the same picture.
Multiplying by 2 is doubling
Multiplying by 2 is the same as doubling, so your child has that skill already.
Multiplying by 3 is doubling plus one more
If you have 3 of something, that’s the same as having 2 of them and then adding one more. If your child needs to multiply 3 times 4, they can double 4 to get 8, and then add one more 4 to that to get 12. Alternatively, you can also skip count by 3’s four times, or skip count by 4’s three times, if you wish.
Multiplying by 4 is doubling twice
If you want to get 4 of something, start by doubling it to get 2 of it, and then double that to get 4 of it. For example, to multiply 4 times 5, double 5 to get 10, and then double 10 to get 20.
Multiplying by 5 by skip counting
Skip counting by 5’s is so much fun, that is probably the preferred method. Also, all the 5’s end in either 0 or 5, so that makes them pretty easy to remember.