Times tables tips

Confidence with times tables really is important for children in primary school.

While it may seem tedious to practise times tables with your child and you might have bad memories of reciting times tables at school, by ensuring your child is confident with times tables you will be giving them some essential tools for success in maths.

Our times tables top tips will provide some useful advice and great ideas to help you support your child in learning their times tables.

1. Practise tables as a time-filler

When you’re sitting at traffic lights or waiting in the doctor’s surgery it is the perfect opportunity for a bit of times table practice! It’s always better (for both your child and you!) to just spend a few minutes reciting or testing times tables rather than going into overdrive and spending too long practising them.

2. Help them with the ones they find tricky

There are usually one or two multiplication facts in each times table that are more difficult. When you notice that your child is stumbling over the same fact each time, try to give them extra practice. You could even get your child to write the fact out in a fun way on a piece of card and then stick it somewhere prominent (like on the fridge) so that they have an extra reminder!

3. Use a number grid

Printing off a simple 10 x 10 number grid can be a great way to demonstrate how times tables relate to number sequences. You can get your child to colour in multiples of different numbers on different number squares so that they can clearly see the number patterns.

4. Make it real

The danger with too much rote learning of times tables is that children can fail to see the use of times tables in real life. Try to take opportunities to get your child to use multiplication in problem solving, for example working out quantities for scaling up a recipe, or calculating the price of more than one item of shopping.

5. Create a challenge

Make it fun by turning times table practice into a competition or challenge for your child, by timing them and keeping a record of their scores. You could even join in yourself and set a challenge to learn a more difficult times table, such as the 13 times table and get your child to test you at the end of the week in exchange for testing them…

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