Multiplication Mania

Primary/Junior (Age 6 – 12)

Curriculum Goal

Primary: Number Sense

  • Recall and demonstrate multiplication facts of 2, 5, and 10, and related division facts.
  • Sort and identify two dimensional shapes by comparing number of sides, side lengths, angles, and number of lines of symmetry.

Junior: Number Sense

  • Recall and demonstrate multiplication facts from 0 × 0 to 12 × 12, and related division facts.
  • Identify geometric properties of rectangles, including the number of right angles, parallel and perpendicular sides, and lines of symmetry.

Context

  • Two to four students and the teacher in-person, or on a video conference chat.
  • Students should have prior experience multiplying numbers and identifying rectangles.

Materials

In-person version

  • One standard 52-card deck, number inclusion dependent on students’ level: i.e., A – 10 (Primary) or A – 12 (Junior)
  • Game board (Appendix A)
  • Coloured game pieces – one colour per child (15 pieces per child)

Online version

Lesson

Primary:

  • To win the game, players must be the first to create a rectangle or square by covering four different numbers on the Multiplication Mania game board.
  • Suggest to students to take a moment to review what a rectangle looks like on the game board.
  • Each player starts with six cards.
  • Each turn, the player chooses two cards from their hand and places them in the Discard 1 and Discard 2 piles to create a multiplication equation.
  • The player places their coloured token on the product of their multiplication equation on the gameboard.
  • After their turn, each player refills their hand, so they always have six cards. If the deck runs out during the game, re-shuffle the cards from the discard piles and continue.
  • While trying to build their own rectangle, players can also strategically block other players from making rectangles. For example, if a player notices an opponent needs to place their game piece on “70” to finish their rectangle, the player can block their opponent by creating a multiplication equation for 70 on their turn.
  • The first player to successfully create a rectangle on the game board wins.

Look Fors

  • Can children multiply two single-digit numbers?
  • Can children multiple a single-digit and a double-digit number?
  • Can children multiply two double-digit numbers? (Junior).
  • What strategies do children use to determine the product of the two numbers?
  • Are children strategic by creating their own rectangle and simultaneously blocking those of their opponent?

Extension

  • Play this as Division Mania, or a combination of Multiplication and Division by changing the operation every round.
  • Add in the Kings to represent 13.
  • Allow students to use three or four cards (instead of two) to create multiplication equations with either one or two double-digit multipliers (Junior).

Related Lessons

An engaging activity that gets students practicing and recalling simple multiplication facts.

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