Teaching Division Concepts to an Eight-Year-Old

Helping Your Eight-Year-Old Learn Division Concepts

Getting Your Child Ready

Before you and your child get started, be sure to speak to his or her math teacher to find out if there are any areas in particular where help is needed. Division concepts can be confusing to many children, so it's often best to make sure that you have full knowledge of your child's level in relation to the Common Core State Standards for 3rd grade math. Many 3rd graders are expected to take standardized math exams that cover the division concepts laid out by these standards.

Activities around the House

An effective way to teach division concepts to an eight-year-old can be to use hands-on activities. Children often love activities that use food. You can use small candies or healthier treats, like nuts or raisins, to teach division concepts.

Give your child eight candies and ask him or her to divide the candies into equal groups. Instruct your child to either divide the candies into four groups of two or two groups of four. Discuss the process that he or she used to divide the candies and show your eight-year-old how to write it as a division problem. Repeat this activity with several other numbers, like ten and twelve. After completing this activity several times, your child will usually have a greater understanding of division.

Teaching Division and Multiplication Together

By teaching division in conjunction with multiplication, you can show your child how division is simply backwards multiplication. Give your eight-year-old a multiplication problem, like 3 x 2 = 6, and show him or her how to reverse it into a division problem. In this case, the division problem would be 6 ÷ 2 = 3. Division concepts are often much easier to understand after a child has mastered and memorized multiplication tables.

Helpful Division Resources

Eight-year-olds may also enjoy learning division concepts by watching videos, some of which are available for free at a number of websites. You can also find many useful division games and activities online that can help your child visualize division problems rather simple relying on the abstraction of numbers on a page. If your child is struggling with learning division concepts, you might consider hiring a private elementary math tutor or taking your child to a local learning center for help.