Make Learning Multiplication Fun (for you and them)

My oldest has been learning the multiplication tables so I've become familiar with many ways to help him drill and practice.  After testing many methods, here are the ones that worked the best and which provoked the least amoung of whining and sulking (from me and from him).

Flash cards were somewhat effective except they are, alone, about as exciting as watching paint dry.  I found if I had him play "Beat the Clock" to see how many he could do in a short time he was more motivated.  He also was far more willing if we broke it down by groups (4's one time, 6's another) and if there were some sort of reward when he mastered them.  It could be as simple as an extra 15 minutes of computer time or staying up for an extra 10 minutes.  Of course,  money is always welcome but use small amounts or you could end up broke.

One board game was effective for us.  It is called Four Way Countdown.  You can add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers on the dice to get the desired number.  This was also effective in having him think about the processes and having him learn to switch from one to another easily.  His younger brother can play with him but he was limited to add and subtract.  They still had fun.

For the visual learner, actually seeing the times tables in a grid and putting numbers in the grid can be a huge help. Skillswise has a great game which helps the student identify the numbers  in the grid and practice putting them in the right place.  It can be timed or not and you can concentrate on a particular number (all of the 6's for instance) or all of the numbers to 12.  Just printing out the grid and having your student color in the ones he knows can help make the job of learning  the tables seem less intimidating.  If they are like my son, they already know the 2's 5's and 10's from learning skip counting.

In Barbados, children's learning software is hard to come by and very expensive when you can find it, so we use the internet as a resource when we can.  I've found several really good websites with excellent math games.   Leon's Math Movies and Leon's Math Dojo are both great for targeted practice.  Math Movies proceed at your child's pace while the Dojo is a timed practice.  The pressure of the timed drill is offset by the fun of watching Leon getting whacked by the punching bag when the child guesses the wrong answer. Both of the Leon games can be used to practice everything from basic single digit addition all the way up to division--you choose the level. Multiplication Tunnel Blaster is fun but it is fast and probably best for drill after your child has some knowledge of the the multiplication tables. 

My son's favorite is  Multiflyer which he will play as often as I'll let him.  The graphics are good and the game becomes more challenging as they levels increase. He's always trying to beat his best score and get to Pluto.  I like that the game keeps track of which tables he needs to work on.

I'll be sure to add to this article as we find more ways to learn multiplication, but I hope you benefit from our experience and that helping your child learn and practice  the times tables will be, if not fun, at least as painless as possible.