We report on a teaching experiment, carried out with 8-11 aged pupils, devoted to a constructive approach, through verbal problems, to the distributive property. Our hypothesis is that a path aimed at understanding the law should start from an analysis of the ways in which perception leads to different mental images and consequently to different related representations. The comparison of these representations leads the pupils to recognize the property. The control of these dynamics in several situations is a fundamental step for promoting a meaningful approach to the distributive law as well as for building its gradual conceptualization.