Math Beyond Workbooks

Monomial Multiplication Bingo

• skills involved: multiplication of monomials, integer practice, exponents


• materials needed: 4x4 grids (or blank sheets of paper), two dice, markers of some kind (pennies, beans, etc.), pencils and paper

The following activity get students to practice multiplying monomials together, such as (2xy)(x⁴y³), in a way that is engaging and motivating. It provides all the practice that a worksheet full of these would provide, but it's a lot more fun.

1. Give your students blank 4-by-4 grids, or have them make their own grids by folding a sheet of paper. Have them write sixteen of the following expressions in their sixteen boxes, in a random order.
   
   

   x4	2x3y	-x3
   3x3y2	-4x2y	-x5y
   4x2y2	-2x2y	6x2y3
   -8xy2	-2x4y2	x2
   -3x2y2	4xy	x4y
   9x2y4	-12xy3	-3x4y3
   16y2	4x3y2	x6y2

   
   
   
2. Write the following six monomials on the board:
   
   
   1. x²
   2. 2xy
   3. -x
   4. 3xy²
   5. -4y
   6. -x³y
   
   
3. Roll 2 dice. Students multiply together the two monomials indicated by the numbers rolled. For example, if they roll a 2 and a 6, they multiply (2xy)(-x³y). If they have the result on their game board, they cover it with a marker.



4. The first student to get four in a row wins. (Whenever I play this, students always want to keep going until all of their squares are covered!)

This game can be adapted to practice multiplying integers (or anything else). Simply choose six different integers (number them 1 ‚ 6), and multiply all possible combinations of these together to generate the 21 possible results. Students write any 16 of these on their bingo boards, and dice rolls indicate which two to multiply together.