What to do with this activity?
In days gone by it was common for children in school to learn their times tables off by heart, and recite them out loud and all together. Nowadays opinions differ on whether it is useful to be able to rattle off your times tables or not.
Clearly, there is no point in a child learning times tables off by heart until they understand what it means and how multiplication works. Once they have understood how multiplication works (click here if they still need to get to grips with it) it is probably useful to be able to quickly recall a sum answer (like 8 times 9 equals 72). We do think it is a good idea to learn tables off by heart.
Kidzworld has some useful tips and tricks to help with times tables here.
Math is Fun have a useful multiplication chart here. Write the chart out together (or print a screen grab if you have a printer) if you think your child would find it useful.
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Why am I doing this?
Maths makes sense to children when they use it in everyday life - like measuring things, working out distances, estimating food for dinner or money for groceries. The more opportunities you give your child to use the maths they learn at school through everyday activities the more they will understand and enjoy working with numbers.
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How can I do more?
Discuss maths that you see around you. For example, talk about sales in shops – half price, 25% off, what is good value? Or how much will the item cost after the discount?
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