Early years mathematics textbooks are support material for teachers and learners as they contain visual representations which communicate and clarify mathematical concepts. In this paper, we report on the types and functions of visual representations of multiplication and division in South African early years mathematics textbooks. There seems to be a reliance on textbooks amongst teachers in South Africa as they assist in providing pedagogic content knowledge. The research from which this paper emerged was a document analysis of multiplication and division visual representations in nine textbooks (Grade 1-3). A Visual Representation Framework was used to analyse the textbooks. The findings indicated that the most dominant type of visual representations across all three textbook series and across the three grades were equal groups and the majority of visual representations had an exemplifying function.