Description
How it works
One player leads and deals a card to each of the other two, who hold them on their foreheads facing outward. The leader states the product of the two cards. Each player then works out their own card from the product and the single factor they can see — which is division, arrived at from the multiplication side. Both explain their reasoning, then the lead rotates. It is the single most efficient way to make children feel that multiplication and division are one relationship, not two topics.
What you’ll need
- A deck with kings and jacks removed (ace = 1, queen = 0)
- Exactly three players
Skills practiced
Missing factors, division facts, the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, and explaining a strategy aloud.
Grade level
3rd through 5th grade. Start with cards 1–5 and 10; bring in jacks and queens as 11s and 12s to extend. See Game 19 for the addition version.
Instant PDF download. Game instructions adapted from the ideas in Math Fact Fluency by Jennifer Bay-Williams and Gina Kling (ASCD / NCTM, 2019).
