How to teach multiplication in Grade 3: a step-by-step guide

Most children meet multiplication properly in Grade 3. The goal by the end of the year is twofold: children should understand what multiplication means, and they should know their facts up to 10 × 10 well enough to use them without counting. The order you teach things in makes a big difference to both.

1. Start with equal groups

Before any symbols, show that multiplication is about groups of the same size. Three plates with four grapes on each is 3 groups of 4. Ask your child to build groups with real objects, draw them, and say them aloud: "three groups of four is twelve."

Only once that sentence feels natural should you write 3 × 4 = 12. The symbol is a short way of writing "groups of".

2. Move to arrays

An array is objects arranged in rows and columns: an egg box, a muffin tray, chairs in a classroom. Arrays are useful because a child can see 3 rows of 4 and 4 rows of 3 are the same total. That is the commutative property, and it halves the number of facts to learn.

3. Learn facts in a sensible order

Not all facts are equally hard. Start with the ones that connect to things children already know:

1. ×2 (doubles) and ×10
2. ×5 (half of ×10, and counting in fives)
3. ×4 (double the ×2 fact) and ×3
4. ×6, ×8 and ×9 (built from facts they already have)
5. ×7, usually the last to stick

4. Practise missing factors

Problems like 4 × ? = 20 make children think about the relationship between the numbers instead of reciting. They are also the first step towards division.

5. Use word problems early

Do not save word problems for the end. A short story ("There are 6 bags with 3 apples in each...") keeps multiplication tied to meaning. Ask your child to draw the problem before solving it.

Our Grade 3 multiplication workbook follows this same order: equal groups, arrays, facts, missing factors and one-step word problems, with an answer key for every page.