For parents & homeschool families
How to Teach Your Kid the Times Tables
Three simple steps, one basketball, and two free printables.
By Justin, certified BC teacher · Study Stone Learning ·
“How do I help my kid learn the times tables?” It's the question I see most in homeschool groups, and I understand why. Flashcards alone get tearful fast, and the tables matter more than they seem: in twenty years of teaching BC math, shaky times tables were behind a surprising number of struggles with fractions and algebra years later.
Here are my three tips for learning the times tables, in the order I use them. They move from movement to patterns to speed, and each step makes the next one easier.
3 tips for learning the times tables
- 1Skip count with a basketball
Say the counting pattern out loud, one bounce at a time.
- 2Fill in the tables in order
Write the patterns down. Skip counting does the heavy lifting.
- 3Practise mixed-up tables
Take the patterns away, and build real recall and speed.
Step 1
Skip count with a basketball
Grab a basketball (any bouncy ball works) and head outside or into the hallway. On every bounce, your child says the next number in the pattern:
3 · 6 · 9 · 12 · 15 · 18 · 21 · 24 · 27 · 30
The rhythm of the bounce does something flashcards can't: it gives each number a beat, and the body remembers the pattern along with the brain. Kids who'd never sit still for a worksheet will happily bounce a ball for ten minutes.
- Start slow
One clean bounce per number. Speed comes later.
- Go to 12 bounces
Count all the way to 3 × 12 = 36, so the whole table is covered.
- Then count backwards
36, 33, 30… Once they can go both ways, they really know it.
- No ball? No problem
Jumps, claps or stairs work too. Anything with a rhythm.
Which table first?
Don't go 1 to 12 in order. Start with the easy patterns so your child racks up early wins, and add a new table only once the last one feels easy, forwards and backwards.
- 12s, 5s and 10s
The easiest patterns, and quick wins build confidence.
- 23s and 4s
The 3s are perfect for the basketball. The 4s are just the 2s doubled.
- 36s, 8s and 9s
6s and 8s double the 3s and 4s. The 9s have a finger trick.
- 47s, 11s and 12s
The 11s up to 9 × 11 are the digit repeated (like 33 or 77). By now most of the 7s and 12s are already known from other tables.
Step 2
Fill in the tables in order
Once the skip counting is solid, move it onto paper. Your child fills in a times-table grid in order, one row at a time. Because each row is just a skip-counting pattern, they aren't memorizing 144 separate facts. They're writing down patterns they already know out loud.
Stuck on a square? Don't give the answer. Ask them to count up from the square before it. Finding it themselves is what makes it stick.
A 2s, 5s and 10s warm-up for three days, then a full 12 × 12 grid to fill in. Answer keys included. 4 pages, Letter size.
Step 3
Practise with mixed-up tables
Here's where the real learning happens. The mixed-up grid uses the same 144 facts, but the numbers along the top and side are shuffled. There's no pattern to lean on, so your child has to actually recall each answer.
Lots of practice matters more than long practice. A few minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday.
- 5–10 minutes a day
Short and often. Stop while it's still going well.
- Time it
Write the time on the sheet. Beating yesterday is motivating.
- Circle the slow ones
Those facts go back to Step 1 for a few bounces.
Three different shuffled 12 × 12 grids, each with its own answer key. Print them again whenever you need more practice. 6 pages, Letter size.
Common questions
What age should kids learn their times tables?
Most children meet multiplication around Grade 3 and work toward knowing their facts quickly by about Grades 4 and 5. Every child is different, though. Start the skip counting whenever counting by ones feels easy.
What's the fastest way to learn the times tables?
Little and often, in the right order. Learn each table as a skip-counting pattern first, then practise the multiplication facts out of order so the answers become automatic rather than counted. Five focused minutes a day will get further than an hour of flashcards once a week.
How long does it take?
It varies a lot. With a few minutes a day, many kids move through the easy tables in a couple of weeks and the whole set over a few months. Consistency matters much more than speed.
My child can skip count but still can't answer 7 × 8. What now?
That's normal. It's exactly the gap Step 3 closes. Skip counting gets them to the answer; mixed practice makes the answer automatic. Keep the sheets going and send the slow facts back to the basketball.
Times tables are the foundation for everything that comes later.
I teach math and science for Grades 8–12, and gaps in multiplication are one of the most common things I find underneath a teen's struggles with fractions and algebra. If your older student is finding math hard, a free 15-minute consultation is a good place to start.
Found this useful? Share it with your homeschool group. The printables are free to copy and pass on. More resources