How to Help 8 yr old learn multiplication

[dznymom3]

Does anyone have any tried and true or creative and fun ways to help a child learn their multiplication facts? Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Steffi]

Not creative or fun, but flashcards certainly do work! In addition to the flashcards, our DD (who is very competitive, even against herself) would get a whole sheet or so full of multiplication problems and one minute to do as many as she could. She got better and faster every day until multiplication was second nature to her.

 

[mudnuri]

Not creative or fun, but flashcards certainly do work! In addition to the flashcards, our DD (who is very competitive, even against herself) would get a whole sheet or so full of multiplication problems and one minute to do as many as she could. She got better and faster every day until multiplication was second nature to her.

thats what my DD's do...time tests.

Brandy

 

[dznymom3]

Thanks. Are there any good games on the internet, etc to help? Anyone??

 

[lindakmonty]

our teacher made up rhymes as well... like 8 and 8 fell on the floor,when they came up, there were 64... silly...but I'll never forget that!

 

[barkley]

flash cards and once they get the hang of it time tests work realy well (we're doing both with both kids this summer to keep up on their skills). my kids also liked learning the "tricks" of remembering. like the 9's-when you add the digits together they are always add up to 9 (18/ 8+1, 27/ 2+7...). they also found it interesting that with the 9's after you do 5 times 9, you start reversing the same numbers you've already given (2 times 9 equals 18, at the other end it's 9 times 9 equals 81, 3 times 9 equals 27, at the other end 8 times 3 equals 72).

if you can get a copy of it, my kids have learned and enjoyed the old "school house rock" videos-there's one thats entirely on math that reviews multiplication tables.

 

[challada]

First use Cheerios to show what the multiplication MEANS...ie, 8 groups of 8 Cheerios is...64 total Cheerios. This makes the numbers actually mean something.

Also, always teach the 1s rule and the 9s rule first:
Anything times 1 is itself.
Anything times 9 is a double digit number where the first digit is one less than the number you are multiplying by and the second digit is a number added to the first digit to make the total always equal nine (ie...9 times 8 is 72...seven is one less than 8 and 2+7 is 9).


Fill in the blank multiplication tables also help w/drill and practice. Just make a grid 0-9 on top and 0-9 on the side and have them fill in the answers.

 

[clutter]

Grab a set of playing cards, pull out the numbers you're working with, and play multiplication war. You each put down a card and who ever gets the answer quickest gets to keep the cards. Great for playing in restaurants or other places where you're waiting on something.

My dd just finished learning them this past year. Her school tested in sets, 1 - 3, 4 - 6, 7, 8 - 9, rather than tackle the whole thing at once. Sevens seemed to be the hardest, but by 8, you've already mastered most of them. Once you get all of them, there are places on the internet, but we never used them.

 

[hiwaygal]

I'd second the vote for School House Rock!

I think I learned all the basics from that Saturday morning staple of entertainment!

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I homeschooled my daughter this past year, and Saxon Math teaches many of the multiplication facts by counting in multiples (3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39, etc.) of that number.

I don't know if your child has problems with any of these--my daughter has just finished second grade and is really in the early stages of multiplication, so it helped us to count in multiples every day. It's something that doesn't require a lot of concentration or flash cards and can be done while you're in the car, waiting for something, or just have a few down moments.

Another thing--I always urge my daughter to use what she knows to figure out what she doesn't know rather than relying on rote memorization. It's easy to say "I give up" on a difficult math fact such as 7x9=63...but if you encourage your child to use an easier math fact such as 7x10=70 and then subtract 7, it breaks down the "I don't knows" to "give me a minute to figure it out"...

 

[beavismom]

There is a game called "Maths Nightmare" in the puzzle section of NeoPets if you really want a game. The flash card idea is a good one and we practice our times tables in the car when we are driving. Of course, that means we have to brush up on our times tables as well.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My children also just finished the second grade and touched on multiplication toward the end of the year as an introduction. The recommendation from their teacher was to just keep doing the addition and subtraction flashcards every day over the summer so they "own them" and can concentrate on other things when they move into third grade. She said that kids who don't "own" addition and subtraction can fall behind in 3rd grade. I thought that was a good point. (That in addition to reading every day; also, both scored well in math for the year).

Anyway, my DD especially (and DS) are both interested in learning more about multiplication as well. I try to point out real life examples as often as I can. We also have a number of workbooks for 3rd grade which they like to use, they have beginning multiplication problems and also touch on a little simple division as well. I'm not going to use multiplicaion flash cards just yet, based on the teacher recommendation, but I will have to check out the School House Rocks videos if I can find some, and will see if anyone posts some fun websites. Thanks for the information, and good luck to all.

 

[dznymom3]

Thanks everyone for all of the great ideas! I have so many new things to try now!!

 

[auntpolly]

My DD learned with Rap with the Facts

Very silly, but effective. She was having some trouble with them and in a matter of a week or so she knew them all with these tapes.

 

[daemom]

My DD learned with Rap with the Facts

Very silly, but effective. She was having some trouble with them and in a matter of a week or so she knew them all with these tapes.

We used something similar called the Multiplication Rap with excellent results.

 

[redshoes]

I learned multiplication with a thing called "multiplication wrap-up keys". You can find a picture of them on amazon. It's a piece of plastic with numbers on the left side, in the middle a number that you are multiplying by and the answers on the right. A string is attached and you run the it across to the correct answer. The end result is a kind of maze of string, the back has an imprint of what the pattern should be so you know if your answers are correct or not. They really did work great for me.

 

[FreshTressa]

My kids like "calculadders"

They are timed tests.