FREE Winter Activity For 3 Digit by 3 Digit Multiplication

Grab these free 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication snowmen. The children put snowmen together to create true equations. Fun hands-on activity.

You can get this FREE printable by clicking on the large blue button at the end of the post.

I taught fourth and fifth grade for the majority of my teaching career, and sometimes it is hard to find cute activities to do with them. Most of the fun, colorful activities that can take the place of a worksheet are for lower grade kiddos. So today, I decided to share an adorable snowman sort for upper elementary. It is a 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication activity.

Prep – Work

This activity does require a little cutting…but then it will be ready to use.

1. First, print of the snowman and cut out.
2. If you are going for durability and multiple uses, then I would laminate them and use card stock paper.
3. Finally, print off enough record sheets for each student.

And that is it! You are done!!!

3 Digit by 3 Digit Multiplication

So this sort is a little harder than just solving a multiplication problem.

The hat has one number, the middle part of the snowman’s body has another number, and the bottom part has the answer.

Our big kiddos have to figure out which numbers go together, and unless they plan on doing tons of two and three digit multiplication problems they are going to have to do some estimating.

Sample Thought Process:

I’m all for letting children come up with solutions to solving problems on their own, but some of our big guys need a little extra support. And if that is the case, you could model your thinking for solving one problem and then let them try it out.

Let’s say you start off with the hat 564, our next step is to try to figure out what other parts might work. I pull out the 28 and multiply 560 x 30 which equals 16,800. There isn’t an answer near that so I move on.

560 x 400 = 224,000 which is not near any answer so I draw another body.

This time I draw an 80. 560 x 80 = 44,800 and that isn’t too far away from the answer 49,840 so this time I will need to do the multiplication. But once I do that, I find it isn’t the answer and it is time to draw another body.

At one point, I will draw 125 and do my estimation. 560 x 100 = 56,000 which isn’t that far from 70,500 and 73,386. When I multiply 564 x 125 together I find that it does equal 70,500 and I have my first snowman put together.

Making it Easier:

We all have sweet ones that get overwhelmed easily, and placing 30 snowman pieces in front of them can send them over the edge. If that is so, don’t hand all of the pieces to them at a time. Maybe only give them three or five snowmen at a time. They will still be doing the work, without a lot of stressing out!!!

I hope your older kiddos enjoy this activity that gets them multiplying without a worksheet!!!

You’ve Got This,

Rachel

You may also like:

Double-Digit Multiplication Search

My Double Digit and Triple Digit Multiplication Bundle

Or get ALL my multiplication and division activities in one download.

Math Tutor: Multiplication and Division, Grades 4 – 8: Easy Review for the Struggling Student (Tutor Series)Cross Number Puzzle: Words in a crossword with numeric digits, Roman numbers, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Volume 2Learning Resources Multiplication Master Electronic Flash Card