Multiplying with Arrays

Jackson, Ava, and Lucas are playing games at Funland. They want to play the Clown Ball game. The kids will need to throw the balls into the clown mouths to win prizes.

Jackson is first! He wants to win the unicorn. He will need to get 9 balls in the holes to win! Let’s see him play. Go, Jackson, go!

Here are the balls Jackson got into the holes. Wow, he did a great job! Did Jackson win the unicorn?

We need to find out how many balls Jackson got into the holes. Then we will know if he won the unicorn. To find the answer, we will multiply! Let’s use an array to help us. An array puts items in rows to help us count and multiply. We will use red dots to show the red balls Jackson threw.

To multiply, we need to know the number of groups and how many are in each group. The number of rows is the number of groups. Here are the rows of the array. How many rows does the array have?

That’s right! There are 3 rows. 3 is the first number of the multiplication sentence. Now we need to know how many are in each group. How many dots are in each row?

Yes! There are 3 in each row. 3 is the second number of the multiplication sentence. That’s 3 x 3.

What is 3 x 3? Let’s use repeated addition to help us. The repeated addend is the number in each row. What is the repeated addend?

That’s right! 3 is the repeated addend. What is 3 + 3 + 3?

9! 3 x 3 = 9. That means Jackson won the unicorn! Hooray!

Ava is next! She wants to win the bear. She will need to get 15 balls into the holes to win! Let’s see her play. Woo hoo, Ava!

Here are the balls Ava got into the holes. She is good at this game! Did Ava win the bear?

Here is an array to show the balls she threw. We can use the array to help us multiply. How many rows does the array have?

That’s right! There are 3 rows. 3 is the first number of the multiplication sentence. Now we need to know how many are in each group. How many dots are in each row?

Yes! There are 5 in each row. 5 is the second number of the multiplication sentence. 3 x 5.

What is 3 x 5? We will use repeated addition to help us. What is the repeated addend?

That’s right! 5 is the repeated addend. What is 5 + 5 + 5?

15! 3 x 5 = 15. That means Ava won the bear! Alright!

Lucas is last! He wants to win the giraffe. He will need to get 25 balls into the holes to win! He can do it!

Here are the balls Lucas got into the holes. He did an amazing job! Did Lucas win the giraffe?

Here is an array to show the balls he threw. How many rows does the array have?

That’s right! There are 5 rows. How many dots are in each row?

Yes! There are 5 in each row. That’s 5 x 5.

What is 5 x 5? Do you know the repeated addend?

That’s right! 5 is the repeated addend. What is 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5?

25! 5 x 5 = 25. That means Lucas won the giraffe! Wow!

Jackson, Ava, and Lucas won their prizes. You did a great job helping the kids use arrays to multiply! What a great day at Funland!