Napier's Bones - Multiplication Activity

We made a paper set of Napier's Bones and learned how to use them.

John Napier was a mathematician who created a set of movable tables to perform calculations. The technique is a form of lattice multiplication and is explained in the video below.

Although we only used Napier's Bones to multiply a one-digit number times a multi-digit number, they can be used in multi-digit multiplication problems, division, and square roots.

My son is a figure-it-out kind of kid. For a different way to practice multiplication I asked him to figure out what Napier's Bones were and then make a set.

After they were complete, his next challenge was to figure out how to use them. Hands-on, and different math activities keep him engaged and learning.

More of our hands-on math activities can be found on our Math Page.

This post is linked to:
We Made That
Montessori Monday
Relentlessly Fun
Fourth Grade Flipper