Multiplication and Division Word Problems with Pictures

This 3rd grade multiplication and division word problems worksheet tells two stories about fruits, each on its own tall card. In the first a named child sees two rows of oranges with five oranges in each row, and the question is how many oranges there are; under the story two small boxes each hold five orange icons, so the picture restates the problem. In the second, fifteen peaches are shared equally among five friends, and beneath the story all fifteen peaches sit above five empty dashed boxes waiting to be dealt out. Each card has a dot grid for working, a dashed box for the number answer, and a handwriting line to finish the answer sentence in words.

The two stories are chosen to contrast: one multiplies equal groups, the other shares a total into equal groups, and the pictures make the difference visible before any symbols appear. A child who draws five oranges in each row and counts, or deals the fifteen peaches into five boxes one at a time, is doing the mathematics that the equations 2 × 5 and 15 ÷ 5 summarize. The answer sentence matters as much as the box: writing There are 10 oranges shows the child knows what the number counts. The teacher looks at the dot grid to see which strategy the child used — repeated addition, skip counting, or a known fact.

Print the PDF free and have the child retell each story before solving it, pointing at the picture to show what the numbers mean. The easier version gives two multiplication stories with small groups; the harder version has three stories and adds the other kind of division, where the child knows the group size and has to find how many groups. Products stay within 36 so the picture always fits. The arrays multiplication page builds the equal-groups idea in rows and columns, and the multiplication and division fact families page connects each story's two operations.