Meerkat Multiplication Video

Madelyn studies meerkats at many different zoos. It’s her job to keep track of how many are at each zoo! Let’s help her.

There were 6 meerkats at this first zoo. Each of the meerkats had 7 pups! How many meerkats are there now?

This sounds like a multiplication word problem! Do you know the factors? Yes! 6 and 7 are the factors. That means the math sentence looks like this: 6 \({ \times }\) 7 = ?

Let’s help Madelyn find the product using an array. We’ll need 6 rows of dots.

Each row needs 7 dots. Perfect! There are 42 dots in this array. That means the product is 42! There are 42 meerkats in this exhibit.

Here is the second zoo! Let’s read the word problem together: If there were 9 meerkats and each meerkat had 6 pups over the years, how many total meerkats are at the zoo now?

Do you see important information? That’s right! The factors are 9 and 6. That means our math sentence is 9 \({ \times }\) 6 = ? Let’s try solving this by drawing a picture.

We’ll need to draw 9 groups of 6 objects. Here are our 9 groups. Each group has 6 dots. Perfect! We can skip count to find the total number of dots: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54. There are 54 meerkats at this zoo. Here’s our label!

Hmm, do you see Madelyn? Oh, there she is! Let’s help her count the meerkats at this third and final zoo. First, read the problem: There were 10 meerkats at this zoo. If each meerkat had 8 pups, how many meerkats are at this zoo in total?

What information is important here? Yes! The factors are 10 and 8. Do you know the math sentence? Correct! The math sentence is 10 \({ \times }\) 8 = ? We can find the product using an array or a picture. In fact, let’s try both!

The array will need 10 rows of 8 dots. The picture will need 10 groups of 8 dots.

We can skip count to find the total number of dots. Ready? 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80. There are 80 meerkats at this zoo!

Thanks for helping Madelyn count the meerkats at all three zoos! You did a great job solving these word problems!