How to teach the times tables

Start with the 2s, 5s and 10s, which have the clearest patterns and are the most useful, then move to the 3s, 4s and 6s, and finally the trickier 7s, 8s and 9s. Learn one table to automatic recall before mixing tables together.

Times-table learning usually runs from Grade 2 to Grade 5. Children often meet the 2s, 5s and 10s in Grade 2, add more tables through Grades 3 and 4, and aim for quick recall of all facts to 12 by around Grade 4 or 5.

Practise one table at a time using skip counting to build it, then highlight the patterns, such as the 9s trick and doubling the 4s to reach the 8s. Short, frequent, timed quizzes build recall speed. Mixing tables should wait until each one is secure on its own.

The times tables usually cover the multiplication facts from 1 to 12, which is 144 facts in total. Because multiplication can be done in either order, such as 7 times 8 equalling 8 times 7, the number of separate facts to memorise is roughly half that.

The usual cause is learning by rote without the underlying pattern, so recall breaks down under pressure. Practising all the tables at once before any is secure also overloads memory, and adjacent facts like 7 times 8 and 7 times 7 get confused. Focus on one table at a time.

For the 9s, the digits of each answer add to 9 and the tens digit counts up as the ones digit counts down. The 4s are double the 2s, and the 8s are double the 4s. The 5s always end in 5 or 0. Patterns like these make the harder tables far easier.

Fluent times tables feed directly into division, which shares the same fact families, and into fractions, factors, multiples and long multiplication. Quick recall frees up working memory, so almost every later maths topic becomes faster once the tables are automatic.