Helping Kids Learn Their Times Tables

I’ve already had two kids go through the trauma of learning their times tables. While they understood the concept of multiplication quite well, when it came to remembering and being able to recall multiplication facts quickly and easily, they both really struggled.

Now my big boy is in grade three and beginning his journey with times tables. He loves maths so I’m hoping this will be a lot less traumatic for him, but again, while he’s great at doing multiplication, it is the remembering and recall he is going to need to practice and work on.

So I’ve been collecting ideas to help my kids remember, recall and learn their times tables – all kinds of ideas from clever tricks, to fun hands on learning activities, and even a few apps, agmes and printables. Plus if you scroll down to the end of this post you’ll find some free printable times tables posters too.

Hands on Times Tables Activities.

Use plastic Easter eggs to make this great hands on multiplication game from Rainy Day Mum.

Kids Activities Blog shares a cool idea to make a paper fortune teller to practice multiplication.

I love this cool trick with your hands for learning the nine times tables from Come Together Kids.

This is another great tip for using your hands to help you work out the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 times tables – this is a great video showing how it works from Simon Deacon.

My kids play this simple multiplication card game at school – these are good clear instructions from Top Notch Teaching.

Childhood 101 shares a similar card game, this time using Uno cards.

Or use dominoes to play Multiplication War from Fun Games 4 Learning.

I love this multiplication high five game from Creekside Learning – what a great way to make learning your times tables fun and positive!

 
Times Table Music, Online games and Apps.

Imagination Soup has a great list of multiplication songs that are not overly cutesy and babyish.

We like this video from philtulgamusic which has a catchy rhythm to help learn multiplication facts.

Multiplication.com has a great selection of free games (Granny Prix is a favourite here) and lots of other learning resources for kids, parents and teachers.

Sushi Monster is a great free maths app with lots of good multiplication options.

MultiFlow is not a super cheap app, but it offers lots of options for practicing multiplaction facts. Read this great review from iGame Mom.

Squeebles Times Tables is another great paid app, lots of fun ways to practice times tables and it also goes up to 13s, 14s, and 15s if your child loves a challenge.

Connect Four Factors is a simple online game based on good old Connect Four, but you really have to think about your times tables to win!

Real Life At Home has a great list of free online multiplication games here.

 

Times Table Printables

These mini multiplication fact cards from Teach Mama are great and she shares lots of ideas for using them.

Try playing This Teaching Mama’s free Multiplication Roll and Bump game.

Play multiplication Eye Spy with this great printable from Next Comes L

Or have a game of Times Table Bingo with this free printable from The Life of Spicers.

This Multiplication Doubles card game from This Reading Mama is great. I love the idea of learning the doubles giving kids a ‘home base… to use to figure out the unknowns quicker.’

 
Free Printable Times Table Posters.

And of course one of the best ways to learn your times tables is to stick up a poster somewhere that you will see them often… the back of the toilet door? On the ceiling above your bed? Or anywhere that will remind you to have a quick practice.

I made these simple times table posters so that we could print them out and stick them up in all different places around our house.

You can download the free printable times tables posters here.

This printable is an A4 sized pdf file, you will need a pdf reader such as adobe acrobat to open it. If you are printing on US ‘letter sized’ paper be sure to select ‘fit’ or ‘shrink to fit’ from your printer options.

Please remember that the printables at picklebums.com are for personal use only, you may not sell, share, or link directly to these files.

Do you have kids who are learning their times tables?
Have you got a trick or tip that might help?

Leave a comment below and tell us all about it.

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