Teaching Multiplication to Your Preschooler

Teaching Multiplication to Your Preschooler

Using Manipulatives ---

           All you need are some manipulatives like Cheerios or peanuts and some toy characters. As an example, use 3 characters. Ask your child to give each character 2 Cheerios. Now ask them how many Cheerios they have altogether. Your child will count the Cheerios to get a total of 6.

First say 2 plus 2 plus 2 is equal to 6. Then explain that you can also say this in a different way. Say 3 groups of 2 Cheerios is equal to 6. Point out the 3 groups and the 2 Cheerios in each group as you say this. Sweep your finger over all the Cheerios when you point out the total of 6. Vary the amounts each time you teach but keep them small. Always emphasize that the first number represents a number of groups and the second the number of items in each group.

Simple manipulatives to teach multiplication

Simple manipulatives to teach multiplication

Sample multiplication problem for a preschooler

Sample multiplication problem for a preschooler

Do Problems on Paper.

Do one simple and quick problem on paper per day. For example, a farmer is collecting eggs from his hens. He has 2 boxes and he puts 4 eggs into each. How many eggs did he collect altogether? Draw a picture of this problem and have your child count the eggs. First write 4 + 4 = 8. Explain to your child that adding is one way to find out how many eggs the farmer collected.

Then write 2 x 4 = 8 on the paper. Explain that this is another way to find the number of eggs. Say 2 groups of 4 eggs is equal to 8. Point out that the 2 represents the number of boxes and the 4 represents the number of eggs in each one. The 8 represents how many there are altogether. Also point out that there are two 4's in the addition equation.

Here is another example problem to draw. You are putting candy into goody bags. You put 3 pieces of candy into 4 bags. Draw the problem and then write it as both an addition and multiplication equation: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12 and 4 x 3 = 12. Make sure you say 4 groups of 3 is equal to 12. Again, go through the explanation of what each number represents in the picture. Make sure you point out that there are four 3's in the addition equation because there are 4 goody bags with 3 pieces of candy.

Mental Math ---

             Once you have been doing problems for a while, move onto mental math problems. For example, if you have two M&Ms and your brother has 2 M&Ms, how many do you have altogether? When they say 4, you say yes, 2 times 2 is 4 and also say 2 groups of 2 is equal to four. Keep the numbers small at this point. Your goal is to give your child an understanding of basic multiplication. Smaller numbers are enough to accomplish this.