Football Brainteaser

With the Superbowl coming up next weekend, here's a fun little brain teaser you can use to stump your older kids (or husbands, coworkers or other adults!)

NOTE:  I used crayons and eraser with my son because that's what a mom with kids has on hand.  However, you can use just about anything to make your goal posts and "football". (especially considering I might have learned this trick years ago in a bar with drink stirrers and a crumpled cocktail napkin! ;)  )

Cool 9 Times Tables Trick

My oldest daughter is in 3rd grade and is working on mastering her times tables.  She has a great understanding of the concept of multiplication,  now we're just working on being able to give the answers quickly and accurately.  

As we started practicing the times tables, I remembered this cool trick I'd learned years ago.  I showed my daughter and she thought it was really helpful, so she agreed to be my hand model.  Many of you might know it already, but if not, it's a good little tip to have in your bag of homework helping tricks!

  
Pretty cool, isn't it?  It will work for all the 9x tables up to 10.

We hope this little tip helps some other Multiplication Fact learning kids!  

Oh, and for another helpful tool in your bag of tricks ... whenever we're in the car or when falling asleep at night, my daughter listens to this multiplication CD.   Some other CD's we've tried either sound too babyish or there's too much extra "stuff" in them and the math facts get lost.  This one has been a hit so far and even my 6 year old sings along and often gives the answers.

Sharing this fun Math trick at:

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