Playing division

In the previous post, you saw how i used these materials to play multiplication game. Now, we use it to play division instead.

 Here, i laid out 3 leaves and 9 ladybugs. I asked N how many bugs should we put on each leaf such that each leaf will have equal number of bugs? We first determined if it was a multiplication or division question then we set on the equation i.e. 9 ladybugs divide by 3.

I don't expect sonshine boy to know how to divide mentally, that's why i gave him the Montessori division board to get the answer. When he found out the answer was 3, i had him sort the ladybugs in threes on each leaf. I pointed to each leaf and asked him if there were EQUAL number of bugs on every leaf.

Separately, i laid out the bugs unequally on each leaf. I asked N if the bugs were EQUALLY divided and vice versa. I wanted him to understand that it meant by equally divided and what is not. So far so good!

I created this game because i realised he does not know how to differentiate between a division and a multiplication question. I hope by doing this activity, it'd give him a visual on what division is although he got it confused with multiplication initially.