How to Teach Times Tables to Kids — A Calm 4-Week Plan That Works

A 10×10 times-table grid holds 100 facts, which can look huge to a child. Learn them in the right order, understand them before memorising, and practise ten minutes a day, and you are left with only six genuinely hard facts. This guide shows you exactly how.

1. Understanding comes before memorising

A child who can recite "seven eights are fifty-six" but cannot tell you what it means will forget it at the first difficulty. Before any chanting, make sure your child sees multiplication as equal groups. Take twelve buttons, beans or LEGO bricks and ask: "Can you make 3 groups of 4?" Then: "How many altogether?" Write it down as 3 × 4 = 12 and read it aloud as "3 groups of 4".

Next, arrange the same objects in a rectangle: 3 rows of 4. This array is the most powerful picture in early multiplication. Turn the paper a quarter turn and you now have 4 rows of 3, yet the number of objects has not changed. Your child has just discovered, with their own eyes, that 3 × 4 = 4 × 3. That single idea, called commutativity, halves the amount of work ahead.

2. The right order: from 100 facts down to 6

Most of us learned the tables from 1 to 10 in a row. That is the slowest route. Start with the tables that have obvious patterns, and use the facts already known to unlock the next ones. Look at how quickly the list of "new" facts shrinks:

Because every fact you learn also gives you its reverse (8 × 7 is 7 × 8), a child who has worked through steps 1 to 5 really has only a handful of facts left to memorise. Telling your child this at the start is very motivating: "There are not 100 facts to learn. There are six hard ones."

3. A strategy for every table

Children remember strategies much better than isolated answers. Each one below rests on facts your child already knows:

• ×2: double the number. 2 × 8 is "8 and 8", which is 16.
• ×4: double, then double again. 4 × 7: double 7 is 14, double 14 is 28.
• ×8: double three times. 8 × 6: 12, 24, 48.
• ×5: half of ×10. 5 × 8: 10 × 8 = 80, half of 80 is 40.
• ×3: ×2 plus one more group. 3 × 7 = 14 + 7 = 21.
• ×6: ×5 plus one more group. 6 × 7 = 35 + 7 = 42.
• ×9: ×10 minus one group. 9 × 7 = 70 − 7 = 63. The digits of the answer also add up to 9 (6 + 3).
• The 9 finger trick: hold up ten fingers. For 9 × 4, fold down the fourth finger. Three fingers to the left, six to the right: 36.

Worked example, the famous 7 × 8: a child who knows 7 × 5 = 35 and 7 × 3 = 21 can build 7 × 8 = 35 + 21 = 56. Another child might double three times: 7, 14, 28, 56. A third might simply remember the pattern "5, 6, 7, 8" which reads as 56 = 7 × 8. All three are fine. What matters is that the child has a way back to the answer when memory fails.

4. A 4-week plan, ten minutes a day

Short daily sessions beat a long weekly one, because memory is strengthened each time we retrieve a fact after a little forgetting. Here is a realistic plan for a child of 7 to 9 who already understands what multiplication means:

If a week feels too fast, simply repeat it. A slower child who understands will overtake a faster child who only recites.

5. How to practise so it sticks

• Ask, don't show. Trying to recall an answer strengthens memory far more than reading it again. Flashcards, quick oral quizzes and games all work because they make the child retrieve.
• Mix the tables. Once two or three tables are known, ask them in random order. Recognising which strategy to use is part of the skill.
• Use three piles. With flashcards, sort them into "I know it instantly", "I know it slowly" and "I don't know it yet". Practise the last two piles most.
• Say the whole fact. Ask your child to answer "6 times 7 is 42", not only "42". The full sentence links question and answer.
• Celebrate streaks, not speed. Five days in a row deserves more praise than a fast time.

6. Common mistakes to avoid

• Timed tests too early. Racing a clock before facts are secure creates anxiety and makes children guess. Introduce speed only when answers are accurate.
• Only chanting from the start. A child who must chant "7, 14, 21, 28…" to reach 7 × 8 is counting, not remembering. Always ask facts out of order as well.
• Skipping understanding. Without arrays and groups, multiplication becomes 100 meaningless sentences, and division will be hard later.
• Long sessions. After about 15 minutes, attention drops. Stop while your child still wants more.
• Comparing with siblings or classmates. Children learn tables at different speeds between ages 7 and 10. Compare your child only with last week.

7. How to know your child is ready to move on

A table is truly learned when your child can:

1. answer any fact in about three seconds without counting on their fingers;
2. answer it in both orders (4 × 9 and 9 × 4);
3. use it backwards for division: "56 shared into 8 groups is…?";
4. still remember it a week later without extra practice.

Do not worry if this takes several months. Most children become fluent between ages 8 and 10, and regular short practice matters far more than starting early.

Free tools on Kids Learning Hub

You can practise every step of this plan for free on our site: the Times Tables Race game for daily retrieval, the Math Race for mixed review, printable multiplication worksheets generated at three levels, and a times-tables wall poster to hang near your child's desk.

MathoKids

Adaptive times-tables practice that remembers which facts your child hesitates on — offline and free.

GET IT ONGoogle Play

Keep it light, keep it short, and keep it regular. In a few weeks, the tables that once looked like a mountain will feel like a small hill your child is proud to have climbed.

Frequently asked questions