Taming the tables – Tips to introduce multiplication

Some tips and tricks to start multiplication which will help you in  knowing  your times tables. I followed this approach with my daughter (she is in grade 1 rt now) and am very happy with the results. She does not have any apprehensions of which table is asked and does a quick mental maths if she does not know the answer.

Tips to approach the concept of multiplication :

I explained these concepts using lego pieces . You can use anything small and handy.

  1. Now that the kids know 2 digit addition the best approach to start multiplication is by asking them to do  repeated addition. Ask them to count the objects in groups of 2 then 3 and so on.
  2. Once they are thorough with repeated addition you can ask them to do skip counting.
  3. Ask them to divide the total number of objects into equal groups.
  4. Arrange the total number of objects in an array of row and column.

Below is a figure to illustrate how multiplication can be introduced to kids.

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