TablesHow to learn multiplication tables and keep them
Learning tables is not about chanting until the lines stick. Children who only chant can often say "seven eights are fifty-six" in order, yet freeze when asked 7 × 8 on its own. The aim is different: each fact should come to mind in about two seconds, in any order, and the child should know a way to rebuild it if it slips. This page sets out a plan that works at home in ten minutes a day.
Start with meaning
Before any memorising, the child should see that 3 × 4 means 3 groups of 4. Lay out beans, bottle caps or coins in rows. Three rows of four and four rows of three use the same twelve beans. That one picture teaches the most useful rule of all: the order does not matter, so 3 × 4 and 4 × 3 are one fact, not two.
The order that makes it easy
- Tables of 2, 10 and 5. These have clear patterns: doubles, a zero at the end, and endings of 5 and 0.
- Tables of 4 and 8. Double the 2 table to get 4, and double again to get 8.
- Tables of 3 and 6. Six is double three.
- Table of 9. Ten times minus once, with the digit-total pattern as a check.
- Table of 7. By now only one new fact is left: 7 × 7 = 49. Every other line was already learnt in another table.
- Tables of 11 to 20, each split into "ten times plus the rest".
That order is why the job is smaller than it looks. The grid of tables from 1 to 10 has 100 boxes, but once you remove the 1 and 10 tables and count each pair such as 6 × 7 and 7 × 6 once, only 36 facts are left to learn.
Ten minutes a day
- Two minutes: say the table being learnt, forwards, while looking at it.
- Three minutes: cover it and answer the lines in mixed order. A parent can ask, or use our practice page.
- Three minutes: mix in older tables. Old facts fade if they are never asked again.
- Two minutes: write out the three facts that were slowest today and stick the paper where it will be seen.
Short and daily beats long and weekly. A child who practises ten minutes on six days will know more than one who sits for an hour on Sunday.
When a fact will not stick
Almost every child has a few stubborn facts, usually 6 × 7, 6 × 8, 7 × 8 and 8 × 9. Do not repeat the whole table for them. Take the single fact and give it a route: 7 × 8 is 5 eights and 2 eights, 40 + 16. Ask the same fact three times in one sitting with other questions in between. Our page on facts children get wrong lists a route for each.
Speed comes last
Timed tests are useful only after the answers are right. Racing a child who is still unsure teaches guessing and worry. First aim for correct answers with thinking time. Then shorten the time gently. If a timed round upsets the child, drop the timer for a week.
Use the tables
Facts stay when they are used. Ask real questions: "Each packet has 8 biscuits and we bought 6 packets, how many biscuits?" Division is the same facts read backwards, so "56 sweets shared among 7 children" practises 7 × 8 again. See division from tables.
For printed practice, the times tables worksheet maker on our Worksheets site makes a fresh sheet with answers every time.