Note: There is too much material in this lesson to be done in one sitting. Break each step up and do the material over time, allowing your child to become confident in each step before moving on to the next step. This method does not require writing, and can be used by special needs children or very young children. However, the age at which a child starts to multiply is not a sign of her intelligence. Children develop at different rates and have different interests. Children who enjoy math may reach this stage earlier than a child who prefers science or sports. Do not push a very young child to multiply unless she is ready and interested. The usual grade for beginning multiplication in school is first or second grade, depending on the school's rush to do well on standardized tests. Be sure you have first mastered the skill of skip counting.
When your child has mastered the art of skip counting by two, you can begin teaching her to multiply. You will need the small toys you used in the previous lesson, pieces of yarn, and the number and symbol cards you used to teach your child to add and subtract. Be sure to add a card for the X used to show multiplication.
Begin with a review of skip counting by two. Then review using the toys for addition and subtraction. Now you are ready to show the new concept of multiplication. Lay out ten small toys in sets of two in a straight line. Have your child ring each set with yarn. (You may want to use a different color for each set to make it easier to talk about a particular group, but this is not essential.) Ask your child to count all the toys. Now ask her to notice that they are grouped together in twos. Ask her if she can skip count them by two. When she can do this, tell her you know a faster way to count them. Count them by twos for her. Ask her if she can do that too-it is just fast skip counting. When she can, praise her and move to the next step.
Ask her how many toys are in each set. (She may have learned the word set when you taught addition and subtraction. If she didn't, simply tell her a set is a group. Each group of toys you made is a set. You put yarn around them to make it easier to see each set.) She should soon notice that there are two in each set. If she has trouble with this, stop and practice identifying numbers of toys in sets. Make sets with varying numbers and have her count and label each set with a card telling how many items are in each group.
When you have returned to the sets of two, ask again how many toys are in each set. Lay out the number 2 under the sets on the left-hand side. Ask her how many sets there are all together. There are five, so set out the number 5. Put the X between the numbers. If your child recognizes it as a letter, tell her that she is right. In reading, this is the letter X. In math, it has a different name and a different job. It is the symbol for multiplication. (Don't be afraid to use the term symbol, even though your child may not know what that word means. The more you use new words, the larger her vocabulary will grow.) When she sees this in math, it means to multiply, and you are going to show her how to do that. Help her practice reading the new phrase that has been created: Two times ten. Tell her that when she sees the multiplication symbol, she says the word times. Stop and lay out other cards and let her continue to practice reading. When she is comfortable, move on.
Go back to your little groups of toys. Ask her what symbol always came next when you added or subtracted. Bring out the equal sign and put it at the end of the phrase. Have her to read the phrase now. Two times five equals. Ask her what should be next. Next should be the answer. But what is the answer? The answer is how many toys there are all together. Count the number of toys one by one and have your child select the number ten to put down. Ask if there is a faster way to count those toys. If she doesn't know, remind her of the way you counted earlier-skip counting. Have her skip count the toys and see that the answer is still ten.
She should eventually come to understand that the answer is the number of groups times the number of items in each group. This will come with time. Each time you do a problem with the toys, say, "There are three groups of toys and there are two toys in each group. Three times two equals six." Eventually, your child will remember this concept and be able to say it herself as she solves problems. When you finally move to math worksheets, you may want to use pictures to help with the transition. Later, she can draw her own pictures. When she is comfortable, help her learn to do the problems without pictures.