A comment from a friend got me playing around with multiplication. I found a few videos from some of my favorite math people, so I’ll be sharing over the next few days.
Here’s one from Sonya Post of Learning Well at Home. Also, Sonya just hosted Playful Math Education Carnival #143, which is well worth your time to explore!
Did your device hide the video? Find it on YouTube here.
“When students have to drill multiplication facts, it’s frustrating, unproductive and it makes them hate math. A better way to master the multiplication table is work on the skills that allow students to multiply quickly and efficiently.”
—Sonya Post, Why We Don’t Drill Multiplication Facts – What We Do Instead
Doubling and Halving
Making doubles and halves are a great foundation for all sorts of math.
Do you ever play the doubling game with your children? One player picks a starting number, and then you take turns doubling it until your mental math skills run out. How far can you go?
Or try the halving game: One player chooses a starting number, and you take turns cutting it in half. How tiny can you go?
As Sonya demonstrated, these skills help your child master their multiplication facts. And they are fantastic preparation for exponents and logarithms, too!
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 