Using the times table, students can see that products are always rectangles, and that they represent the area of that rectangle. They should explore the times table by playing with these rectangles whose sides are the factor of the products.
Tag: area
Build a House
Spreadsheets with their natural grid make a great, though not entirely flexible, platform for architectural design and for working with shapes. Build a house introduces students to using spreadsheets to create floor plans and to measure area. Most spreadsheets have amazing graphic flexibility. You may want to encourage students to use spreadsheets for art. Here is an incredible example: http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2013/05/28/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-artist/