Many of us can remember standing up in class and reciting our times tables, but how many of us really understood what we were doing? Learning tables doesn’t have to be meaningless or boring. This guide describes what you can expect of your child and suggests some activities to help her learn her number facts.

You’ll notice that we have used ‘she’ for children – this is just to make it easier to read.

Tables are useful. They are a quick way of handling large numbers and they will help your child to get a feel for whether an answer is sensible or not. But they take time to learn and your child will be building up her knowledge over several years at primary school. So it’s worth knowing how you can help her.

She probably won’t start on tables until she is about six. That’s because what we call tables are really multiplication and division facts and there’s not much point in learning them until she understands what multiplication and division are.

This is a rough guide to what you can expect your child to do, based on National Curriculum requirements.

Age 5 – 7

Learn to count in 2s, 5s, and 10s.

Learn doubles and halves of numbers to 10 and the corresponding halves.

Learn the 2 and 10 times tables.

Make a start on the 5 times table.

Age 7 – 9

Double or halve bigger numbers to work out answers.

Learn and use the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables.

Make a start on the 6, 7, 8 and 9 times tables.

Learn what happens when you multiply a whole number by 10 or 100.

Age 9 – 11

Know and practise by heart all the multiplication facts up to 10 x 10.

Use times tables facts to solve problems.

Work out long multiplication problems using pen and paper.

How to help

Age 5 – 7

Encourage your child to practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

Try some of these strategies.

• Counting parts of the body such as hands, ears, fingers, etc. One person – how many hands? Two people – how many hands? One dog – how many paws? Two dogs – how many paws? One hand – how many fingers? Two hands – how many fingers?

• Counting 2, 5 and 10 pence coins.

• Reciting number rhymes such as ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’.

• Talk about odd and even numbers. Make pairs from piles of socks, shoes or gloves. This helps children to understand the concept of odd and even.

• Try counting steps on a walk or going up the stairs.

Age 7 – 9

Build up new times tables gradually and keep on practising the ones she knows already.

• Chanting times tables is a good way of practising facts she already knows. But don’t use it when breaking new ground.

• Encourage her to say her tables backwards as well as forwards. Saying them in reverse order, from 10 back to 1 will help to find ways of figuring out the ones she keeps forgetting.

• Number hunt. How many different ways can she find to make 36 – or 48 – or 21?

• There are certain key facts that are useful and easy to remember. Help your child to practise them. They include the doubles, the 5 and 10 times tables and the square numbers such as

3 x 3 = 9.

Age 9 – 11

Colour in the tables she knows on a tables square and look for patterns. Encourage her to look for patterns. The more she understands about how numbers work, the easier she will find it to remember her tables.

For example

the tens all end in a zero

the fives end in a zero or five

some tables are all even

the four times-table is double the twos

the digits in the nine times-table add up to nine.

• Some facts, particularly in the 7 and 9 times tables, just don’t seem to stick. Encourage your child to find her own way of working the hard ones out. For example, if she can’t remember

7 x 8, try doubling 7 x 4.

Do

• use real objects and situations to practise multiplication problems

• encourage your child to talk about how she solves number problems

• encourage her to build up key number facts

• help her to find her own ways of solving problems.

Don’t

• insist on your child reciting the times tables right from the start – it’s better to do this when she knows some of the answers and can work out those she can’t remember.

Make  it FUN!