Math facts are the small calculations children are expected to know from memory, such as 7 × 8 and 56 ÷ 7. When a fact comes back in a second or two, a child’s attention is free for the new idea in a problem instead of the arithmetic inside it. That is why so much of 3rd grade goes into the times tables, and why they keep coming back in 4th and 5th grade.
This section has a page for every times table from 1 to 12 and every division table from ÷ 1 to ÷ 12. Each page lists the twelve facts, explains the patterns that make that table easier, has a timed drill your child can play right now, and comes with a printable practice sheet and answer key.
How to help your child memorize the multiplication tables
You do not have to learn the tables in order from 1 to 12, and it is usually easier not to. The order below starts with the facts that have a way in your child already owns, and leaves the hard ones until there are tools to reach them.
The 2s, 5s and 10s first. Twos are doubling, fives are the minutes on a clock face, tens are counting in tens. They come quickly, and each one becomes a tool for a harder table later.
Then doubles. The 4s are the 2s doubled, and the 8s are the 4s doubled. Square facts such as 6 × 6 and 7 × 7 make good landmarks, because their neighbours are one group away.
Then the 9s, which are full of patterns: the tens digit is one less than the number you multiply by, the digits add to 9, and there is a finger trick.
Use turnarounds all along. 3 × 8 and 8 × 3 are one fact with two names, so every table your child learns also fills in a column of the chart.
Leave the hard facts for last and build them from known ones: the 6s, 7s and 8s, worked out from the 5s, the doubles and the squares until they stick.
Turnarounds are what make the job smaller than it looks. A 1 to 12 chart has 144 squares, but counting each pair like 4 × 9 and 9 × 4 once leaves 78 different facts. Take only the one-digit facts, set aside the 1s, 2s, 5s and 9s, and count turnarounds once, and 15 facts are left to memorize. That is a few weeks of short practice, not a year.
Timed drill: mixed times tables
12 facts in a random order. A right answer within 3 seconds counts as by heart. Free, no sign-up, and nothing is saved: it all happens on this screen.
Type with the keypad or your keyboard, then press Check or Enter.
Practising at home
A few minutes most days suits facts better than one long session a week: they are something to keep warm, not something to cram. A quick drill at breakfast or in the car is plenty.
About the drills on these pages: each one runs entirely in your browser, needs no account and saves nothing. An answer counts as by heart when it is right within 3 seconds, the same line Tutorsaurus uses for 3rd to 5th graders in the app. A slower right answer is still right; it just means the fact is being worked out rather than remembered, and the drill lists it so you know what to practise.
Some children love racing the clock and some find it stressful. If the timer worries your child, ignore it and use the drill for right and wrong only. The goal is facts that come easily, not speed for its own sake.
And division?
Division facts come from the times tables. 56 ÷ 7 = 8 because 7 × 8 = 56, so the best preparation for a division table is the matching times table. The division pages show how each table turns round, and they stick to facts with no remainder.