How to Teach Decimals to Visual Learners + Free Printable

This auditory learner mom was having difficulty teaching her visual learner so I had to get a little more creative as I figured out how to teach decimals to visual learners.

Decimals can be a tricky subject to grasp if you don’t have a good understanding of place values. I was first introduced to decimal street during Steve Demme’s math curriculum, Math U See. We didn’t stick to his curriculum but I love the way he teaches math. It’s hands on and emphasizes the use of manipulatives with the blocks.

Math manipulative can help teach decimals to your visual learners

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Place values

Does your child have a good understanding of place value. If not, then learning about decimals is going to be difficult. You cannot move on until you’ve mastered place value. If you’re having issues with this topic then you know you need to back track. This is what I learned the hard way. Once we stepped back and reviewed some basics, notebooked about place values, things came a little bit easier.

Manipulatives

Visual learners need a visual  method to learn math. That’s where a manipulatives enter. I had to use these printables to teach both fractions and decimals to demonstrate how they are not two separate subjects but how they are related.

When we were studying them as separate subjects, my son was getting frustrated and making careless mistakes, however, once we worked through them and converted questions from decimals to fractions, he was able to get a better grasp of things.

Money

A great , practical way to learn about decimals is to use money. When you’re at the grocery store, have your child carry a clipboard around and add up the the prices of food that you are purchasing.

Or have your child help you figure out which purchase is the better value. I was in search of socks for my daughter, and we found

Other posts about teaching decimals.

 Life of Fred Decimals and Percents Key to Decimals Do You Know Dewey?: Exploring the Dewey Decimal System (Millbrook Picture Books) Fractions, Decimals, and Percents ETA hand2mind Rainbow Fraction/Decimal Tiles ETA hand2mind Rainbow Fraction Tiles

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Get the Decimal Printable Here >>

Once you click on the link, the file will automatically download to the download’s folder on your device.

More Math Printables

If you need help with fractions I have a free printable as well – How to Teach Fractions to Visual Learners.

Pi Day Color by Multiplication Worksheets

Check out the other posts int the A-Z STEM series.

7 Comments

  1. Definitely will need to keep this on hand! Decimals and fractions are coming up for my oldest, and I haven’t quite figured out how to teach it.

    1. Yeah, they can be tricky.

  2. Oh wow! When my daughter gets a little older thiswill be helpful!! Thanks for sharing!!

  3. Thank you for sharing with us this amazing printable! I am featuring your post this week on Learn & Play Link Up. Hope to see you link with us again. Thank you!

  4. Thanks for sharing your math tutorial with us at Funtastic Friday. I’m going to keep this handy to use when my grandson gets a little older.

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