Too Many Kangaroo Things To Do

Poor Kangaroo! It's his birthday but everybody's too busy to play with him. Emu has to bake one cake (1 x 1), spread two colors of frosting (1 x 2), decorate the cake with three flowers (1 x 3) and add four big candles (1 x 4). That's 10 Emu things to do when you add them up. The two platypuses, three koalas and four dingoes are likewise occupied with multiple tasks. Multiply each group's tasks, then add the totals together and it equals…a party! 

By learning how to multiply by 1, 2, 3, and 4, children are introduced to multiplication, one of the four basic arithmetic operations. 

Activities!

• Review the math summary pages and encourage your child (or students) to talk about the number of activities each animal has to do and the total number of activities that have to be done.
• Make some cookies. Arrange the dough on each baking sheet differently. For example, in rows of 2s, 3s or 4s. While the cookies are baking, practice multiplying. Ask: "How many cookies are on the sheet?" and "After three sheets, how many cookies will we have?" (Of course, some may end up being nibbled before they are counted!)
• Draw pictures of insects with different numbers of legs on cards: spiders, ants, beetles, mosquitoes, caterpillars, etc. Count the number of legs on each insect. How many legs are there altogether if you have two spiders, three ants, or four caterpillars?