Year 1 maths · Key Stage 1 · Number – multiplication and division

Year 1 multiplication and division: grouping and sharing

Year 1 children are not expected to learn times tables, but they do meet the ideas behind multiplication and division. With the support of the teacher, they solve one-step problems about equal groups and fair sharing using real objects, pictures and arrays. They also double numbers, find halves of small quantities and count in 2s, 5s and 10s. These early experiences make the tables in Year 2 much easier to understand.

Grouping, sharing and doubling, explained

The Year 1 programme of study has a single statement for this topic: solve one-step problems involving multiplication and division, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representations and arrays, with the support of the teacher. “Concrete objects” means things children can hold, such as counters, cubes or real biscuits. The point is understanding, not memory. A child who has dealt out twelve counters between three plates knows what division is before anyone asks them to write ÷.

Multiplication is introduced as equal groups: three plates with four biscuits on each. Children put the groups out, draw them, and find the total by counting all the items, counting in 2s, 5s or 10s where the group size allows, or adding the groups. Division comes in two forms. Sharing asks how many go in each group when objects are dealt out fairly. Grouping asks how many groups can be made when the size of each group is known. Both versions are used, because children need both pictures of what division means.

An array is a neat arrangement of objects in rows and columns, like the holes in a muffin tin or the windows in a block of flats. Arrays can show that 3 rows of 4 and 4 rows of 3 hold the same number of objects (an idea that is taught more formally in Year 2), and they link counting in equal steps to the idea of multiplying. Children also learn to double a number, and doubling is often the first multiplication fact they know well. Finding half of a small number or amount belongs here too, because halving is sharing between two.

The × and ÷ signs, and writing number sentences such as 3 × 4 = 12, are formally Year 2 content, although some schools show them to Year 1 children. At this stage the focus is on explaining what is happening in words: “There are 3 groups of 4, so there are 12 altogether”. Problems are set in everyday stories, and the numbers are small so that children can solve them by counting, drawing or dealing out. The 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables follow in Year 2.

Words your child will hear

Group: A set of objects counted as one. Three groups of 5 means 5, 5 and 5.
Equal: The same size or amount. Equal groups all have the same number in them.
Share: Divide into equal groups, often by dealing one at a time. 12 shared between 3 gives 4 each.
Array: Objects arranged in rows and columns so that each row has the same number.
Double: Two equal amounts put together. Double 4 is 4 and 4 more, which is 8.
Half: One of two equal parts. Half of 10 is 5, because 5 and 5 make 10.
Altogether: The total when groups are put together, and a clue for multiplying equal groups.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 1, pupils should be taught to:

Solve one-step problems involving multiplication, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representations and arrays with the support of the teacher
Solve one-step problems involving division, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representations and arrays with the support of the teacher

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example

There are 12 biscuits. Share them equally between 3 plates. How many biscuits go on each plate?

Put out 3 plates and 12 counters to stand for the biscuits. The word “equally” means every plate must end up with the same number.
Deal the counters out one at a time, one on each plate in turn. After one round 3 counters are used. Keep dealing until all 12 are gone. There are 4 rounds, so each plate has 4.
```
Round 1:  3 used
Round 2:  6 used
Round 3:  9 used
Round 4: 12 used
```
Draw it as an array: 3 rows, one for each plate, with 4 dots in every row. Count the dots to check that there are 12 altogether.
```
plate 1   o o o o
plate 2   o o o o
plate 3   o o o o
```
Check by putting the groups back together: 4 and 4 and 4 makes 12. Then turn the problem around as a grouping question: how many plates of 4 can be made from 12 biscuits? Three. The same picture answers both.

Each plate gets 4 biscuits. Or: 12 biscuits make 3 groups of 4.

Common mistakes and how to help

Making unequal groups and still calling it sharing

Young children often share by what feels “fair” or by giving a bigger share to someone who wants it, or they stop dealing when they run out of patience rather than counters.

What helps: Deal one at a time, one for each, and keep going round the plates in the same order. Ask “Does everyone have the same? How can we check?” and let your child match items one to one across groups.

Giving the number of groups as the answer when asked for the total

In “3 plates with 4 biscuits on each”, the child sees the 3 and the 4 and picks one of them rather than combining them.

What helps: Ask “What are we counting? Plates or biscuits?” Count the biscuits touching each one. Use the word altogether and point at everything in the picture.

Thinking 3 rows of 4 and 4 rows of 3 must be different amounts

The two arrays look different, one long and one tall, and children judge by the look rather than by counting.

What helps: Make an array of 12 counters in 3 rows of 4 and count them. Then turn the whole tray or piece of paper round so it shows 4 rows of 3, and count again. Nothing was added or taken away, so the total is still 12.

Believing sharing is the only kind of division

Most children first meet division as dealing out cards or sweets, so a question about how many groups of 5 are in 20 seems like a different topic.

What helps: Show both meanings with the same objects. Deal 12 counters into 3 piles and ask how many in each pile. Then make piles of 4 and ask how many piles. Say “12 divided into groups of 4 makes 3 groups.”

How to help at home

Share real things. Ask your child to share crackers, grapes cut in half, or socks fairly between two or three people, one at a time. Then ask “How many each? Is everyone the same? What if there were one left over?”
Lay the table in groups. “We need a fork and a spoon for each of 4 people. How many pieces of cutlery altogether?” Count the 2 at each place, then all of them together. The same works for 2 shoes per person, 5 fingers per hand or 4 wheels per car.
Look for arrays. Egg boxes, muffin tins, ice cube trays and the windows on a block of flats are all arrays. Ask how many rows and how many in each row, and whether the number changes if you turn the tray round.
Double and half game. Put out 4 toy cars, then add 4 more to double. Then split a pile of 10 between two garages. Ask “What is double 3? Half of 6?” and always let your child check with objects first.
Count in 2s, 5s and 10s. Count socks in 2s, one pair at a time, fingers in 5s, and a row of ten-pence coins in 10s. Stop sometimes and ask how many groups there are so far, and how many in total.

Leads on to

Year 2: The 2, 5 and 10 times tables

Everything in Year 1 maths

Updated 20 October 2026.