If you're reading this, your kid is probably stuck somewhere. Maybe they're a confident counter who freezes at "what's 7 times 6?" Maybe they've been drilling flashcards for weeks with nothing sticking. Maybe they recite the 7s in order perfectly but blank when asked one out of sequence. All of these are normal — and all of them mean the standard approach (flashcards plus repetition) isn't working for your child.
The good news: there's a lot of research on what actually helps kids memorize times tables, and it's much more interesting than "drill harder." Here's what works, in the order that works, with specifics you can use tonight.
First: don't teach the tables in number order
This is the single most common mistake. Most curricula teach the times tables as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... in numerical order. But the tables aren't equally hard. The 10s are trivial (just add a zero). The 7s are universally the hardest. Teaching them in numerical order forces children to face difficulty in the wrong sequence — and the confidence damage from struggling on the 3s before they've mastered the easy wins is real.
The order researchers and experienced teachers agree on:
| Start with | Why |
|---|---|
| 2s, 10s, 5s | Easiest patterns. Kids master these fast and feel smart. |
| 1s, 0s | Trivial. Almost no learning required. |
| 11s (up to 9) | Also trivial. No learning required. |
| 4s, 8s | Double the 2s, then double the 4s. Comes almost free if 2s are solid. |
| 3s, 6s | The 6s are double the 3s. Teach them as a pair. |
| 9s, 7s | The 9s are full of patterns. The 7s are the hardest — save for last. |
This order isn't arbitrary. It's based on which patterns each table contains, and how the tables build on each other.
Use visual tricks, not abstract drilling
Trick 1: Arrays
Show your child that 3 × 4 isn't an abstract operation — it's three rows of four dots. Or four rows of three dots. Either way, the answer is the rectangle you see.
● ● ● ●
● ● ● ●
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This is the most research-backed visual technique for times tables, and it does something flashcards never do: it makes the answer visible. A child who has built a 3×4 array of buttons or counters knows that 4×3 makes the same rectangle (just rotated) — they've understood the commutative property without anyone using the word.
Practical version: get a handful of small objects — buttons, coins, beans, cereal pieces — and have your child build arrays for each new fact. The physical motion of arranging them makes the math tactile and memorable.
Trick 2: Skip counting
If your child can count "2, 4, 6, 8, 10" rhythmically, they already know the 2 times table. You just have to tell them.
Skip counting is the bridge from counting to multiplication. The rhythm makes it musical, which makes it memorable. Practice skip counting out loud during car rides, while walking, while doing dishes. Make it a chant. The 5s and 10s come almost for free this way; the 2s and 3s aren't far behind.
Once your child has the rhythm, you can introduce the multiplication framing: "What's the fourth number when you count by 3s? 12. So 3 × 4 is 12. You already knew it." The "you already knew it" moment is genuinely magical for kids.
Trick 3: Doubling chains
The 4s are double the 2s. The 8s are double the 4s. The 6s are double the 3s. Once your child knows one table in a chain, the next one is almost free.
So if your child knows that 2 × 7 = 14, they can find 4 × 7 by doubling: 28. And then 8 × 7 by doubling again: 56.
This works because doubling is a mental operation children develop early. Most 7-year-olds can quickly double small numbers in their heads. By teaching multiplication as known fact + one doubling step, you cut the memorization load in half.
Trick 4: The 9s magic
The 9 times table is the most pattern-rich table in the entire grid. There are three overlapping patterns worth showing your child:
Pattern 1: The digits always add to 9.
9 × 3 = 27 → 2 + 7 = 9
9 × 6 = 54 → 5 + 4 = 9
9 × 8 = 72 → 7 + 2 = 9
If your child computes 9 × 7 and gets 62, they can check: 6 + 2 = 8, not 9. So the answer is wrong. This self-checking habit is a gift that keeps giving — kids who learn to check their own work in elementary school are dramatically better at catching their own errors later.
Pattern 2: Tens up, ones down.
Look at the 9 times table in order:
9 × 1 = 09
9 × 2 = 18
9 × 3 = 27
9 × 4 = 36
9 × 5 = 45
9 × 6 = 54
9 × 7 = 63
9 × 8 = 72
9 × 9 = 81
9 × 10 = 90
The tens digits go up (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). The ones digits go down (9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0). Show this to a child and watch them light up — it looks like a trick.
Pattern 3: Multiply by 10, then subtract.
9 × n is the same as (10 × n) − n. So 9 × 7 = 70 − 7 = 63. This is a reliable mental procedure for any 9-times fact and it works even past 9×10.
Trick 5: Chunking the hard ones
For the truly hard facts — 7 × 8, 12 × 9, the ones with no easy pattern — teach your child to break the problem into easier pieces.
7 × 8 = ?
Break into: (5 × 8) + (2 × 8)
= 40 + 16
= 56
This isn't a shortcut — it's the same operation mathematically fluent adults use when computing facts they haven't memorized. Teaching your child to chunk explicitly teaches them how to use what they know to figure out what they don't. It also lays the foundation for the distributive property they'll meet in algebra.
How long should practice sessions be?
Short and frequent beats long and rare. The research is unusually clear on this: 5 to 10 minutes per day produces dramatically better long-term recall than 30 minutes once a week.
Working memory has limits. After about 10–15 minutes of math drill, most children's attention degrades and additional practice produces little gain (or actively negative gain, if it triggers frustration). The first 10 minutes are where the real learning happens.
An ideal schedule:
- Daily: 5–10 minutes of mixed practice — mostly review, a small dose of new material
- New facts: review the same day, then 1 day later, then 3 days, then 7 days, then 14 days
- Mastered facts: revisit every 2–4 weeks to prevent decay
Sequential vs. mixed practice
Here's a distinction most parents (and many teachers) miss: a child who can recite "7, 14, 21, 28, 35..." in order isn't yet fluent. They're computing rhythmically — walking the sequence. True fluency means answering "what's 7 × 4?" cold, in one or two seconds, without recitation.
Sequential practice is the necessary first step. But the goal is random-access recall. Once your child can chant a table, the next step is mixing — asking out-of-order, mixing tables together, and forcing direct retrieval.
Warn your child first. Mixed practice feels harder than sequential practice — because it is. A child who can confidently chant the 7s will struggle when asked "what is 7 × 4?" cold, and the dip in confidence is real. Tell them in advance: "this is supposed to feel harder. That's how you know you're learning the real skill." This framing prevents the "I forgot it!" panic spiral.
What to avoid
1. Loud timed drills
Stopwatches, flashcard races, "who can answer first" games. These work for confident kids and damage anxious kids. Many adult math-phobic responses trace to exactly this kind of practice in elementary school. If your child shows any sign of stress around timed math, switch to untimed practice immediately.
2. Tying performance to identity
"You should know this by now." "Your sister knew her tables at this age." "Smart kids have these memorized." Statements like these turn temporary struggles into permanent self-concepts. Children who internalize "I'm not a math person" often carry that label for decades.
3. Drilling without conceptual foundation
Going straight to flashcards before your child understands that multiplication is repeated addition (or arrays, or groups) produces brittle knowledge. Build the visual understanding first; drill once the foundation is there.
4. Calling sequential mastery "done"
If your child can chant a table but can't answer cold questions about it, they're not finished. Move to mixed practice before declaring victory.
Realistic timeline
Total fluent recall of all 144 multiplication facts typically takes one to two years of regular practice. Many school curricula budget six to twelve weeks for "times tables." The mismatch is why so many middle schoolers still struggle with facts they technically "covered" in 3rd grade.
The realistic plan: a single table takes 1–4 weeks of regular practice to automate. With 12 tables to learn, the full set takes a school year or more. Spaced review across years is what makes it stick.
Putting it all together: one approach
If you want a single approach to follow tonight, this is the simplest version of everything above:
- Pick one table — start with the 2s if your child hasn't begun. Otherwise pick the easiest table they haven't mastered.
- Build it physically. Make arrays out of buttons or pasta pieces. Skip count it out loud. Make it musical.
- Practice 5–10 minutes daily. Sequential at first, then mixed.
- Move to the next table on the agreed sequence (above) once the current one feels automatic in mixed practice.
- Review previously-mastered tables every 1–2 weeks to prevent decay.
- Don't use timed drills until your child is confidently fluent and explicitly enjoys the challenge.
And if your child resists math practice no matter what you try, that's information too. Some children need the practice to be embedded in a game where they're not consciously thinking about math at all. The play-based approach lets the techniques above do their work without your child ever noticing what's happening.
A FUN way to practice
Math and Snake is a free math game for kids ages 5 to 12. The classic snake game, but every move involves a math problem. Counting, addition, subtraction, times tables, and division — with adjustable difficulty so the same app works for a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old. Teacher Approved on Google Play.
