Multiplication Picture Books : Help your kids learn their multiplication facts the fun way. Here are 10 awesome multiplication books for kids to make it easy.
I’m not a math whiz. I’m more of a word girl. So in third grade, when we were called to the front of the class to recite our multiplication tables, I was scared out of my mind.
Yikes! I remember wearing pants with deep pockets for those days. That way I could use my fingers to add up those pesky 8s and 9s.
“Take your hands out of your pockets,” the teacher would scold. And so I’d be left with just my memory for figuring out if 64 was the answer to 8 x 8 or 8 x 9.
My approach to teaching multiplication to my own third graders was entirely different. I used picture books to teach multiplication.
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Multiplication Picture Books
Though we did have a few oral quizzes for fun, they were built around games and within a group, to keep the kids from feeling the pressure or embarrassment I’d felt standing there, fidgeting my fingers around in those pockets, all those years ago.
It’s funny how I finally memorized multiplication facts. It was through hands-on activities and learning the basic patterns all mathematical equations provide.
It was like an aha moment when I could see it. That’s when I made the connection that numbers and me could, in fact, get along within my own experiences. That’s when I decided to use those everyday experiences to teach third graders that same relationship so they could make those number connections, too.
The Bigger Picture
Looking back, I realize that my biggest problem was my lack of understanding for what multiplication meant in the first place. Kids need to first understand the process of multiplication before anything else. Otherwise, they’re just randomly memorizing numbers without a purpose or the significance of the multiplication fact and its pattern among the rest.
For me, that’s where the multiplication picture books took over. Once the numbers were told through story, I could easily see the patterns, the multiplication properties, and more important, understand how easy the multiplication facts could be remembered.
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10 BEST Multiplication Picture Books Make it Easy
So here are my all-time favorite picture books for introducing your kids to the fun world of multiplication. Use these books to help your kids make connections within their own experiences and discover the awesome applications of multiplication for themselves.
1. One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
2. Math Appeal: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles
3. The King’s Commissioners (A Marilyn Burns Brainy Day Book)
4. The King’s Chessboard (Picture Puffins)
5. Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! (MathStart 3)
6. The Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Multiplication Book
7. Sea Squares
9. The Monster Who Did My Math
10. Multiplying Menace: The Revenge of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure)
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Great list! Putting The Monster Who Did My Math on our book list 🙂
This is a great list of books. I could have really used these when Jimmy was struggling. I’ll have to hang onto them for my other two kids. Thanks for sharing.
I love the One Grain of Rice book for math lessons. I am going to have to check out the chocolate multiplication book 🙂 Thank you for the wonderful list of book resources!
What a great collection–and a smart idea to break up fact practice!
I’m so happy to see this list! My middle son is going into 3rd grade this year. While I think he understands multiplication since he’s a smart kid, I think giving him more ways to understand can only help him. I have a feeling my dd7 who will be in 2nd grade will need the books more when the time comes.
The Rumpelstiltskin book has long been a favorite. I bought that for my oldest son when I was homeschooling him.
I loved maths at school but I was hopeless at mental arithmetic – I had to wear the dunce hat so many times (I bet they don’t have those in school anymore lol). These books look fabulous and I’m pinning them for when our time comes to use them.
Wow! what a great resource! Pinning in case I ever homeschool!