Flower Power?

This beautiful garden is full of flowers! Look! Some of them have numbers on them. There are five flowers with 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in their centers.

The butterflies want to visit the flowers that are full of numbers! These are multiplication flowers. We need to use the numbers in the centers and the numbers in the small petals to create multiplication facts. Multiplication facts are multiplication sentences we can practice so that we remember them!

This butterfly wants to land on the flower with a 1 in the center. The number in the center is the first number of the multiplication sentence. Each small petal has the second number of each multiplication sentence. We will put the answers in the large petals! Let’s start with 1. That means our first multiplication sentence is 1 times 1! What is 1 times 1?

That’s right! 1 times 1 equals 1! We can use a table to keep track of our multiplication facts.

Let’s fill out the rest of the petals by multiplying 1 by each number in the small petals. 1 times 2 is 2. 1 times 3 is 3. 1 times 4 is 4. 1 times 5 is 5! What do you notice about the answers?

They are the same as the numbers in the small petals! That is because any number times 1 is itself! Our flower is full. Now the butterfly can land on it!

This butterfly wants to land on the flower with a 2 in the center. We will multiply 2 by the number in each petal to fill the flower. That means 2 will be the first number of every multiplication fact! Let’s try multiplying 2 by 1. What is 2 times 1?

That’s right! 2 times 1 equals 2! What is 2 times 2?

Yes! 2 times 2 equals 4! How can we find the rest of the multiplication facts?

Multiplying by 2 is like adding groups of 2. We can also use skip counting by 2 to help us! Let’s fill out the rest of the flower. 2 times 3 equals...6! 2 times 4 equals...8! 2 times 5 equals...10! 2, 4, 6, 8, 10! Our flower is full. Now the butterfly can land on it!

This butterfly wants to land on the flower with a 3 in the center. We will multiply 3 by the number in each petal to fill in the flower. Let’s try multiplying 3 by 1. What is 3 times 1?

That’s right! 3 times 1 equals 3! What is 3 times 2?

Yes! 3 times 2 equals 6! Can you find the answer to 3 times 3?

Excellent! 3 times 3 equals 9! We need to find the rest of the multiplication facts.

Multiplying by 3 is like adding groups of 3. We can also use skip counting by 3 to help us! Let’s fill out the rest of the flower. 3 times 4 equals...12! 3 times 5 equals...15! 3, 6, 9, 12, 15! Our flower is full. Now the butterfly can land on it!

This butterfly wants to land on the flower with a 4 in the center. What is 4 times 1?

That’s right! 4 times 1 equals 4! What is 4 times 2?

Yes! 4 times 2 equals 8! Can you find the answer to 4 times 3?

Excellent! 4 times 3 equals 12! What about 4 times 4?

Great job! 4 times 4 equals 16! We have to find two more facts!

Multiplying by 4 is like adding groups of 4. We can also skip count by 4. 4 times 1 is 4. 4 times 2 is 8. 4 times 3 is 12. 4 times 4 is 16. 4 times 5 is...20! 4 times 6 is...24! 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24! Our flower is full. Now the butterfly can land on it!

We have one more flower and one more butterfly that wants to land! What is 5 times 1?

That’s right! 5 times 1 equals 5! What is 5 times 2?

Yes! 5 times 2 equals 10! Can you find the answer to 5 times 3?

Excellent! 5 times 3 equals 15! What about 5 times 4?

Great job! 5 times 4 equals 20! One more fact! What is 5 times 5?

Wow! 5 times 5 equals 25! 5, 10, 15, 20, 25! The last flower is full. The butterfly can finally land!

All of the flowers are ready for the butterflies! You did a great job multiplying to create multiplication facts.