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Games to learn multiplication tables
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Games to learn multiplication tables for your child

Learning multiplication tables is one of the duties that younger children have to do once they arrive at school. Play Games to learn multiplication tables if your child is fond of the entertainment.  However, it is a job that, many times, can be more expensive than it may seem at first. 

There are certain ways to facilitate this work. In this sense, one of the simplest and most helpful ways to learn multiplication facts is to sing them out loud. When singing the multiplication tables, we memorize the multiplications in the same way that we do with any song.

Games to learn multiplication tables

Our brain has more facility when it comes to memorizing any information. Including one as particular as the multiplication tables can be.

Building blocks

Building blocks

The Lego or bricks or building blocks is one of the most loved games by many children, and even parents. This game is based on using building blocks to create buildings or any other way you want. However, it can also be a perfect tool when it comes to learning multiplication tables. To do this, use a broad base piece and then place Lego blocks that spatially represent the multiplication tables.

One of the advantages of this system is that it teaches children what multiplication tables are really, and why multiplying two numbers together has a concrete result and not another. Keep in mind that, most of the time, learning multiplication tables is done by heart. This is understandable given that they are small children. In spite of this, it is very important that children understand what they are doing when they multiply, which is nothing more than adding the same number sometimes repeated. This can be seen and understood very easily thanks to this game since these pieces are perfect for the child to understand what he is doing.

Rectangle Race

Rectangle Race

For this game that teaches multiplication tables, only a ballpoint pen is needed. The game consists of drawing the rectangles on the graph paper from the indications of an adult. In this way, the adult should say different multiplications and the child should draw on the graph paper the corresponding rectangles in each case. The objective of the game is to make the best use of paper, so that, to win, we must take into account the number of rectangles that have been drawn, the more rectangles are achieved in the same better paper.

Another option available is to make this game between two children and an adult. In this case, the rules will be the same, although, on this occasion, both children will take turns drawing the rectangles in the same paper. The adult will suggest the multiplications in turns, so that, in the end, the winning child is the one who has drawn the most rectangles.

Cuisenaire strips

Cuisenaire strips

In this case, it is a perfect toy to learn multiplication tables. The Cuisenaire strips are pieces of wood in different colors according to the number they represent. They are presented as square prisms that represent a specific figure depending on the extent they have and that, in all cases, correspond to the times the length represents the width. In this way, you can play spatially represented both multiplications and the rest of the basic rules of mathematics.

It is a simple toy but, despite this, allows children to experiment with a physical reference when learning multiplication tables or any other mathematical rule that they must learn during the first years of school.

Although they are usually sold in wood, another available option is to make them yourself from recycled cardboard. In this sense, it is best to take as a reference two centimeters wide and, from this figure, multiply to obtain each of the numbers. Also, it is also advisable to use a color for each number (which will always be from 1 to 9). In this way, the figure will be obtained in a much more visual and quick way, which will facilitate learning.