math

Math Know-How

For a lot of kids (including my own) the word math is a dirty four-letter word.  Rare is the child who begs their parents to let him or her stay up all night and work out math problems – I think those kids must live somewhere in Bizarro World – they certainly don’t live in my house.

In my experience math woes begin to arise right about the time multiplication is introduced.  I get a lot of hemming and hawing when it comes to working out those multiplication problems, but with a little patience and some good resources, learning how to multiply can be as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Here are some tips and resources to make learning multiplication fun and easy.

• Invest in some multiplication flash cards (I purchased some at Walmart many years ago), or better yet, make them yourself with some index cards or cut up sheets of paper.
• Write out multiplication problems on a sheet of paper or dry erase board for your child to practice. I find that my kids prefer to use the dry erase board to work out math problems as opposed to a plain sheet of paper – maybe it’s because they’re working on only a couple of problems at a time and therefore the task seems like less work.
• Verbally quiz your children every once in a while by asking them multiplication problems.  We do this when we have to wait in the car or in doctors offices – it helps to pass the time, and the kids are learning.
• Use worksheets and games to enhance the learning experience. Worksheets are a useful tool for learning multiplication, but it has been my experience that interactive games really do the trick when it comes to learning multiplication facts.  My kids love to play games anyway (as most kids do), and for reluctant math learners games are a great way to hide the fact that they’re learning.

Online Multiplication Resources:

• Visual Multiplication game: This is a multiplication applet and only goes through 10, but it’s a valuable resource nonetheless.
• Multiplication – Times Tables:  This chart goes through 12, and is kind of interactive.
• Printable Multiplication Tables and Charts:  This site has lots of worksheets for printing out.
• Timez Attack:  My kids love thins game!  You can play it online or download the basic version for free.  It’s pretty cool.

What about you?  Do you have some great tips and tricks for getting your kids to learn multiplication?  Feel free to share them below.