Description
How it works
Teams of two work with 36 counters and a sheet of paper each, pretending to arrange stickers on a page. Team 1 rolls twice and builds equal groups: first roll is the number of groups, second is how many in each. Team 2 uses the same two numbers to build an array — rows and columns. Both teams work out how many stickers they used and compare. Then they swap tasks. Seeing 4 groups of 6 and a 4×6 array produce the same total, side by side, is the moment multiplication stops being a procedure.
What you’ll need
- 72 counters
- One die
- Two sheets of paper
- Four players, in two teams
Skills practiced
Equal groups and arrays as two models of the same operation, and the commutative property.
Grade level
2nd through 4th grade. Roll two different-coloured dice and have teams read them in opposite orders to make the commutative property unmistakable.
Instant PDF download. Game instructions adapted from the ideas in Math Fact Fluency by Jennifer Bay-Williams and Gina Kling (ASCD / NCTM, 2019).
