Make Multiplication Fun with Crafts and Games

I love sharing ways to make learning more fun, and when we can make learning things that kids have to learn a little more interesting, that’s always a good thing.

Multiplication is a vital math basic, but just memorizing multiplication tables isn’t that much fun, and some kids are just bad at it (confession: I never learned mine because my teachers emphasized memorization and I just couldn’t do it).

Math games and projects like these might make it easier for some kids to learn, and more fun for everyone.

Skip counting is a fundamental skill that comes before learning multiplication, and you can practice counting by twos while making art with this activity from Nurture Store. This is a classic butterfly symmetry painting project with a counting twist, but I think you could make it even more of a counting project by representing the numbers on the butterflies themselves. Use two colors on the butterfly that will be 2, for example, or four different shapes for 4 or six spots for 6, etc.

This Reading Mama has a collection of six multiplication table puzzles on two different levels (level two has more pieces). Kids can cut out the puzzle pieces and put them together to make a multiplication table.

Rock Your Homeschool has a great set of printables using multiplication to make color by number mandalas. Each color is indicated by a multiplication problem (like 2×2 is blue) while the sections to color are numbered with the answers (or vice versa). There are pages for each set of math facts from multiples of 2 to 12, as well as a mixed page. These are not free but they are really cute and would be great for a classroom!

Kids of a certain age in mid-elementary school seem to go through a cootie catcher phase, so combine that with learning math facts with these printable multiplication cootie catchers from Artsy Fartsy Mama. These include math facts for multiples of 2 through 9, and as kids choose colors as they play they’ll get a multiplication problem to answer.

Free Printable – Math Calculator Game

Teachers Love This Version Of Monopoly – See Why

Cool Math Art with Parabolic Curves

Adding and Counting Machine

If it’s hot where you live, you might be looking for some fun activities you can do with kids inside the house. And while bubbles are generally a strictly outside the house kid of activity, these special bubbles are ones you can play with inside. It’s both a lot of fun and a science lesson.

These bubbles aren’t blown into the air, you blow them onto a tabletop gently through a straw.

What’s really cool about them is that they will stay on the table top without popping. You can even blow another bubble inside the first bubble, or stack bubbles on top of each other.

Why does this work? It’s thanks to a special ingredient in the bubble solution: sugar.

This particular recipe is from Play Party Game, but I’m sure you can find it other places with similar ingredients as well. But this post has a good explanation for what is normally happening with regular bubble solution made mostly with just soap and water, as well as why the sugar helps to make bubbles stronger and helps them last longer.

You could make this into a full on science experiment for your kids, comparing regular bubbles (this time you’ll want to do it outside or somewhere easy to clean) to the “unbreakable” bubbles, letting them hypothesize about what ingredients might help make bubbles stronger or what the sugar does to the solution.

You can talk about the molecular structure of the bubble being altered by the sugar, which makes it stronger and longer lasting.

They even have an activity kit you can buy to help guide your explorations and that offers extension activities for you to try.

Or you could just play with them. No judgement here; it’s summertime.

Grab the recipe and more of the science behind the bubbles from Play Party Game. And while you’re playing with bubbles you can also check out my giant bubble solution recipe over at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Play Party Game]

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