Is your child struggling to learn their times tables off by heart? They’re not alone! Luckily, there are lots of tricks to make memorising multiplications much easier. 

Children who know their tables by heart enjoy maths more because they don’t need to use their fingers to work out the answers to questions. Plus, they can experience the satisfaction of getting more questions correct!

With this in mind, here are a few tips for helping to learn tables off by heart.

Use a variety of methods

1. Start with a variety of means: listening to times tables music, chanting, writing out, and using games and apps. See what works for your child!
   
2. Using more than one method together, such as chanting and apps like DoodleTables, can make learning more diverse and engaging.
   
3. Check out our blog for even more fun and creative ways to learn times tables.

Keep practice short and sweet

1. 5 to 10 minutes of intensive practice is ideal. We favour sticking to one table, and doing: 20 mixed questions with a crib sheet; 60 mixed questions with a crib sheet, timed; as many as you can in 2 minutes, no crib sheet. It takes 8-10 minutes.
   
2. Put a clock on it: ask your child to do 20 questions in a minute and they will have to start using recall rather than counting.
   
3. Reward speed as much as accuracy, so allow your child to make an occasional guess!

Keep in mind some helpful rules

1. There are a few rules that really help if they are caught between two answers – such as the only way to get an odd answer is to multiply an odd by an odd.
   
2. Don’t try to learn a new table until they have mastered the ones that go before. The typical order is 2x, 5x, 10x, then 3x, 4x, then 6x, 9x, and finally 8x and 7x.
   
3. Alternatively, many countries do not teach tables according to the multiplier but according to the product. When learning off-by-heart, this can be a great way to do it. First learn the products up to 10 (i.e. 2×4=8, 3×3=9, etc.) Then learn the products to 20 (i.e. 3×4=12, 6×3=18 etc.). Then up to 30, 40 etc. The by-product of this method is that children quickly learn to recognise prime numbers, too.
   
4. As well as these handy hints, learning times tables in a specific order can make memorising them a breeze!

Support learning with technology

Along with these suggestions, apps such as DoodleTables can be helpful.

With lots of fun and engaging questions tailored to each child’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s a great way to practice your tables!  

DoodleTables is available as part of a DoodleMaths subscription, available in the Apple AppStore, Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore.

Tables are the building blocks of maths. They are essential for division, fractions work, written methods, percentages… the list goes on. You only have to learn them once, and as long as you keep using them, it’s job done!