Help Your Child Learn Multiplication Facts - Tips and Tricks
I have two kids who are a year apart in school. My son, the oldest, loved the "competition" of learning the multiplication tables and the positive rewards of climbing up the multiplication ladder.
My daughter, notsomuch. She has an uncanny ability to memorize songs, stories and poems after hearing them the first time, but could not get the multiplication tables. She said they were too "flat" and not interesting, like a song or poem. She hates anything timed, and while her answers were often correct, she could not / would not answer the required 100 questions/4 minutes. As she failed to climb the mulitplication ladder with her classroom buddies, her self-esteem plummeted.
Here are some things we did to finally climb that hurdle.
Make your own flash cards
We used a different color and shape of construction paper for each number series. She drew a picture for each answer in addition the the number answer. She didn't always remember that 4x9 was 36, but as soon as I prompted with the word "cheeseburgers" she immediately remembered "36" and this helped gain confidence. Knowing that blue cards were the 9's helped, too.
Online multiplication tools
Who knew? There are tons of them out there! We started with simple facts, and they may be timed or not. Users can choose the level to start with and include in the testing. This gains confidence at each level.
Multiplication tables -Choose your level.
Multiplication timed test - Just like in school!
Printable sheets of math facts - Sometimes just pencil and paper are best.
Online multiplication games
My daughter loved these fun games. This doesn't help directly with the speed/timed test aspect, but she had lots of fun, and gained confidence and fluency with the math facts.
Interactive math games (many to choose from!)
Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will work! :)
