[Photo by angela7dreams.]
A forum friend posted about her daughter’s adventure in learning the math facts:
“She loves stories and drawing, so I came up with the Math Friends book. She made a little book, and we talked about different numbers that are buddies.”
What Are Math Friends?
“For example: 8, 7, 15
(8 +7=15, 7+8=15, 15-7=8, and 15-8=7)
These guys are buddies. Wherever 8 and 7 are, 15 is there too. And vice versa.Other number buddies:
6, 7, 13
9, 8, 17
There are more, of course, but these seem to be the ones she struggles with memorizing.She drew clothes and faces on the numbers (which she would do whether she was supposed to or not!) , and each page had a group of friends.”
Or Try Equation Pictures
Another homeschooler shared how her daughter drew story pictures to help herself remember the math facts. Check out the photos:
Multiplication Stars
[Drawing by mathman.]
One of the worst things about my computer dying is the loss of all my old bookmarks. Once upon a time, a blogger posted the cutest pictures of circular multiplication patterns his son had drawn (using just the ones digit of each answer.) I can’t find where I first saw the multiplication stars, but here is a file telling how to make them (see page 3):
[Tip to my MathCounts students: Try making some of these! They will help you understand the “units digit” puzzles that so often stump you.]
What About Your Kids?
Have you or your children come up with a cool trick for learning math facts? Please share your tips, tricks, and ideas!
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 
I loved the story book idea! Very sweet.
We have laid paper numbers out on the floor – then the children run to the answer when I call out a sum (do you say that? Is math problem the way to say it?). The children love to run from answer to answer, and it does help them remember their math facts.
That sounds like fun. I have also heard of people putting the numbers on stairs, so the kids can jump up and down to the answers. A great way for young boys to burn up energy!
Hi great posts! I would just like to add that the multiplication starts can be found at http://rightbrainmath.com/. His videos can also be seen free on the website. Check it out ! 🙂 Or Mister Number videos on You Tube. 🙂
Thanks for the links. We watched several of the YouTube videos — my daughter kept wanting to click more of them! We especially enjoyed the ones that compared the patterns in two or more times tables, like:
* Times Tables for 3, 6, 9
* Threes & Sevens
Glad you liked it 🙂 I have ordered the book and cd can’t wait to start working on it 🙂
I drew a big game with sidewalk chalk, lots of circles with one numbers in each, and my daughter had to jump only on, say, multiples of 3 to get from one end to the other. It would work for any number facts, and kept her happy when the same problems on paper would have made her cry!!
That sounds like fun, Liadhan! I have also heard of people putting numbers on their stairs (with Post-Its or Sticky-Tac) and letting children jump up and down. Depending on where you put the zero, you could have the kids play with negative numbers, too.
There are great videos on the patterns like Number Stars on Number Circles at
http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterNumbers