Guides

How to learn the times tables

Go from easy to hard, practise five minutes a day and recall answers from memory instead of re-reading.

Start with the tables that build confidence

First ×1, ×2, ×5 and ×10 – they are simple and progress comes fast. Then ×3 and ×4, then ×6, ×8 and ×9, and finally ×7, ×11 and ×12.

Short, but every day

Five minutes a day beats an hour once a week. One round of the game takes about that long – before dinner or in the car.

Recall from memory

Memory grows when a child recalls the answer, not when they read a chart. That is why the game asks instead of showing.

Mix old and new

Interleave new facts with ones your child already knows. The game does this for you and asks more often about the tricky ones.

Mistakes are information

Don’t punish errors. Show the right answer and come back to it a little later – just like the mascot does in the game.