Number Sentence Roll and Write: Multiplication and Division

Last year when I was focusing on number bonds and fact families for addition and subtraction, I created this super simple, but really fun activity. Seriously, there’s just something about rolling the giant foam dice that my kids love! Today I’m sharing a similar activity for multiplication and division! It’s hard to believe that I’m already introducing my daughter to multiplication and division, but she has shown that she gets it, and enjoys the new challenge. This fun multiplication and division game is such a simple activity, but helps form a strong foundation!

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

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It’s incredibly important that math concepts not be taught in isolation. Mathematics is a rich, interconnected subject, and we should take every opportunity to help kids see and form those connections.

Multiplication and division are what are called inverse operations. This means they are opposite each other and “undo” one another.

For instance, if take the number 3 and multiply it by 5, you get 15. To “undo” that and get back to your original value, you would simply divide by 5.

Related: Solving Problems by Working Backwards (using inverse operations).

Multiplication and Division Fact Families:

A fact family is a set of three numbers that can be related to each other using multiplication and division. (Or as in this post, with addition and subtraction).

For example, the fact family above includes the numbers 3, 5, and 15. This creates 4 different equations:

  • 3 x 5 = 15
  • 5 x 3 = 15
  • 15 / 3 = 5
  • 15 / 5 = 3

This Roll and Write multiplication and division game gives kids the opportunity to write out the fact families.

Please note, though, that when you are dealing with doubles, there will only be two equations, not four (i.e. 5 x 5 = 25 and 25 / 5 = 5). 

By creating and comparing fact families with multiplication and division, kids learn (or reinforce) several important math concepts:

  1. The commutative property of multiplication
  2. That multiplication and division are inverse operations
  3. How to correctly write equations involving multiplication and division
  4. That knowing multiplication facts means they also know division facts

Plus, they’re able to connect a new math concept (division) with a known math concept (multiplication).

How to use the Number Sentence Roll and Write Activity:

As I’ve said, this activity is SUPER simple. All you need is the student handout (free in my shop) and a set of dice (or just one die, rolled twice)!

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

Personally, whenever I create or use an activity involving dice, I like to get out our giant foam dice. My kids just love these, and it seems to make it even more fun (but regular dice will totally do the trick, too!)

Once your kids are ready, they start by rolling the dice and recording the numbers on the answer sheet.

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

They then use those two values to write two multiplication problems (thus demonstrating the commutative property).

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

After finding the solution to those equations, they can then start with the solution to write two division equations.

They then complete the chart by rolling to get two new values.

And that’s it! Simple, right? And yet, so many important math concepts are being explored and connections made! 🙂

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

UPDATE: This download has been updated to include a page that focuses only on multiplication. Students roll two numbers and write a multiplication sentence, then rewrite it using the commutative property.

If your students are not quite ready to work on the complete fact family, hopefully this will provide a helpful bridge to get there! 🙂

I hope you’re able to use this multiplication and division game with your child or in your classroom. It will reinforce known facts or start to form connections between the math they’re learning.

And most of all, have fun forming multiplication and division fact families!

This simple activity helps kids see the inverse relationship between multiplication and division, practice writing equations and learn multiplication and division fact families! All in a fun and simple way!

{Click HERE to go to my shop and grab the Roll and Write Multiplication and Division Game!}

Looking for more multiplication and division ideas? Try one of these!

Looking for a fun and hands on way to teach multiplication to your kids? This huge lesson bundle covers 5 different representations of multiplication, as well as the commutative property, printable games, word problems and more!

{Click HERE to see the Introduction to Multiplication Lesson Bundle!}

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