Place value trains

The essence of this activity is for students to understand how, when multiplying or dividing by powers of 10, it’s the digits that move rather than the decimal point. 

The resource contains a place value grid that goes from thousands down to thousandths. There are then number trains to cut out with engines on either end: a multiplication engine on the left and a division engine on the right to pull the number in the correct direction.

Students can write a digit on each carriage to show the number moving up or down the place value columns while the decimal point stays where it is.

The resource lends itself to being laminated, so that students can try different numbers, and, if there's time, making a hole between each carriage with a hole punch enables the decimal point on the place value grid to be seen.