How to Learn Times Tables: The Best Order, Patterns and Games

Times tables look like 144 separate facts to memorise. They aren't. With the right order and a handful of patterns, the real number of hard facts drops to about a dozen. This guide gives you that order, the patterns that make it work, games that beat worksheets, a simple spaced-practice routine, and the facts about the UK Year 4 multiplication check.

Understanding before speed#

Before children memorise 6 × 4 = 24, they need to know what it means: six groups of four, or four groups of six, and that both make 24. A child who only knows the chant is stuck the moment they forget a line. A child who understands can work it out.

Spend a few sessions on this before any drilling:

• Make groups. Six plates, four grapes on each. How many grapes?
• Build arrays. Arrange 24 counters, buttons or pasta pieces in rows: 6 rows of 4, then turn the paper round to show 4 rows of 6. Same counters, same total.
• Spot them in real life. Egg boxes (2 rows of 6), muffin tins (3 rows of 4), window panes, chocolate bars.

That turning-round trick matters more than it looks. Once a child really believes that 3 × 8 is the same as 8 × 3, the work halves. A full 12 × 12 grid has 144 squares, but only 78 different facts, and many of those are easy.

The best order to learn them#

Learning tables in number order (1s, 2s, 3s…) is the hardest route, because the 3s arrive before the patterns that make them easier. This order builds each table on the last:

1. 10s — add a zero. Builds on counting in tens. (The 1s take about a minute alongside them.)
2. 2s — doubling. Builds on counting in pairs.
3. 5s — half of the 10s. Every answer ends in 0 or 5.
4. 11s (up to 9 × 11) — the digit repeats: 3 × 11 = 33, 7 × 11 = 77.
5. 4s — double the 2s. 4 × 7: double 7 is 14, double again is 28.
6. 8s — double the 4s. 8 × 6: 4 × 6 = 24, double is 48.
7. 3s — the first table with no shortcut, but by now several facts are already known.
8. 6s — double the 3s, or 5s plus one more group. 6 × 7 = 35 + 7 = 42.
9. 9s — 10s minus one group. 9 × 7 = 70 − 7 = 63.
10. 12s — 10s plus 2s. 12 × 7 = 70 + 14 = 84.
11. 7s — last, and by now almost free.

That last point is the one children love. By the time you reach the 7 times table in this order, every fact except one is already known from another table. 7 × 3 is in the 3s, 7 × 8 is in the 8s, and so on. The only genuinely new fact is 7 × 7 = 49.

England's national curriculum follows a similar logic: the 2s, 5s and 10s in Year 2, the 3s, 4s and 8s in Year 3, and all the tables up to 12 × 12 by the end of Year 4. Other countries order them differently, and many stop at 10 × 10, so check what your child's school expects.

Patterns that do half the work#

Patterns aren't tricks to avoid learning; they are the structure that makes facts stick. Show one, let your child find it in a list of answers, and then let them explain it back to you.

The 9s. Look at the answers: 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72, 81, 90. The tens digit goes up by one and the units digit goes down by one, and the digits always add up to 9 (up to 9 × 10). There's also the finger trick: hold up ten fingers, fold down the 4th for 9 × 4, and read 3 fingers on the left and 6 on the right: 36.

The 11s. Repeating digits up to 9 × 11. Then 10 × 11 = 110, 11 × 11 = 121 and 11 × 12 = 132.

The 5s. Always half of the matching 10s answer. 5 × 8 is half of 80, so 40. On an analogue clock, the 5s are the minutes.

The 4s and 8s. Double, double (again). Children who are confident with doubling find these surprisingly easy.

The 3s. The digits of every answer add up to 3, 6 or 9: 12 (1 + 2 = 3), 21 (3), 27 (9), 36 (9).

Square numbers. 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144. These are worth learning as a set; they're the "diagonal" facts with no partner to swap with, and they appear all the time later in maths.

Games that beat worksheets#

Worksheets have their place, but most of the useful practice happens in short games. A few that need nothing more than a pack of cards or two dice:

Multiplication war (ages 7+). Remove the picture cards from a deck. Each player turns over two cards and multiplies them. Higher answer wins all four cards. To practise one table, fix one number: "Everything is times 4 today."

Times tables snap (ages 7+). Write ten facts on cards and ten answers on others. Turn them over one at a time from two piles; shout "Snap!" when a fact matches its answer.

Fizz buzz (ages 7+). Count around the table. On every multiple of 3, say "fizz" instead. On multiples of 5, "buzz". On multiples of both, "fizz buzz". Great in the car.

Dice grid (ages 6+). Roll two dice and multiply. Colour that answer on a grid of numbers. First to colour a row of four wins. For the bigger tables, use one ordinary die and one 12-sided die.

Beat the parent (ages 8+). You answer one fact, they answer one. If either of you takes longer than a slow count of three, the other gets a point. Make sure you lose sometimes.

The maths games collection has printable board and bingo versions of several of these. Our times tables worksheets are short on purpose: one table, mixed order, about ten facts.

Little and often: a spaced-practice routine#

Memory research is very consistent on one point: practice spread out over days and weeks beats the same amount crammed into one sitting, and retrieving a fact (trying to recall it) builds memory better than rereading it. You can put both ideas to work in five minutes a day.

This is a simple version of a Leitner box. Our guide on using flashcards properly explains the system in more detail.

Instant recall is the end goal. When a child can say "forty-two" for 6 × 7 without counting up, their working memory is free for the harder part of a question, like long multiplication or fractions. But fluency comes from understanding plus practice, not from timed tests alone. If a child freezes or cries when timed, take the timer away for a few weeks and focus on accuracy.

The UK Year 4 multiplication tables check#

In England, children in Year 4 take the multiplication tables check (MTC) in June. According to the government's information for parents:

• it's an on-screen check of 25 questions on tables up to 12 × 12;
• children have 6 seconds to answer each question, after 3 practice questions;
• it usually takes no more than about 5 minutes;
• there is no pass mark; schools see the results and parents are given their child's score by the teacher;
• access arrangements are available for children who need them.

Parents don't need to do any special preparation. Six seconds is enough to recall a fact, but not usually enough to count up from zero, which is why secure recall matters more than speed drills. If your child knows the facts and can type a number confidently, they're ready.

Common mistakes to avoid#

• Chanting without understanding. A child who sings "six sevens are forty-two" may still have no idea what it means. Keep coming back to groups and arrays.
• Starting with the 3s or 7s. Easy tables first builds confidence and covers half of the hard ones.
• Long sessions. Twenty minutes of practice the night before a test is less effective than five minutes on four different days.
• Ignoring division. If 7 × 8 = 56, then 56 ÷ 8 = 7. Ask the question both ways from early on.
• Making it all about speed. Speed follows confidence, not the other way round.

For a structured set of pages that follows the order above, try the Times Tables pack. Today, start with one step: make an egg-box array together and find two different multiplication facts hiding in it.