Mastering Multiplication: Tips, Strategies and Fun Activities for Kids

Master the concept of multiplication using this practical guide, engaging activities, tips & tricks.

Make Multiplication Simpler for Kids

Multiplication is an important concept in math, and a slightly difficult concept for a child to understand, specially after they have learned addition and subtraction.

Here’s how to make multiplication simpler for kids.

Practice skip counting

Practice skip counting to reinforce multiplication concepts.

Start with simpler things like asking them to double or triple numbers. What is double of 5, what is triple of 5 and so on.

Next, you can ask them to skip count. For example, ask your child to skip count using jumps of 4 (to learn the table of 4). It would be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and so on.

Lot of kids already know skip counting. So, in case your child is already comfortable with skip counting, they will find it easier to multiply numbers.

Make arrays using objects

Make an array to help your child understand the concept of multiplication. You can use marbles, Jenga wood blocks, corn, paper clips, gems (chocolates) or any other object to make an array. Just make sure all the objects look alike.

Now you can take any table, say table of 4. So make an array of 4×2, 4×3, 4×4 and so on and make them count the total.

Related: Multiplication tables made easy for kids

Properties of Multiplication

Before we go into the properties, here are a few terms to remember.

Multiplication happens between a ‘Multiplicand’ and a ‘Multiplier’.

For example, in the equation 4 x 3 = 12, the number 4 is known as the ‘multiplicand’ and the number 3 is the ‘multiplier’.

The answer of the multiplication is known as ‘Product’ of the numbers.

Here are some properties of multiplication:

Any number multiplied by zero, the product is zero. So, 210 x 0 = 0.

When a number is multiplied by 1, the product is the number itself. So, 1210 x 1 = 1210.

When two or more numbers are multiplied, changing the order of the numbers involved in the multiplication, does not change the product. So, (5 x 2) x 2 = 5 x (2 x 2) = 20.

Multiplication involving Multiplier that has zeros in the end. In such a case, the product is the Multiplicand along with as many zero on its right as the number of zeros in the multiplier.

For example:
112 x 10 = 1120
112 x 100 = 11200
112 x 1000 = 112000 and so on.

Multiplication by Tens:

To multiply a number by 30, multiply the number by 3 and add one zero to the right of the product.

For example 12 x 30 = ?
First multiply 12 x 3 which is 36 and then add one zero to the end.
So, 12 x 30 = 360.

Multiplication by Hundreds:

To multiply a number by 400, multiply the number by 4 and add two zeros to the right of the product.

For example 12 x 400 = ?
First multiply 12 x 4 which is 48 and then add two zeros to the end.
So, 12 x 400 = 4800.

Multiplication by Thousands:

Similarly, to multiply a number by thousands, such as 2000, 3000, etc., we multiply the number with the first digit of the ‘multiplier’ and then add three zeros to the right to find the final product.

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