Fun ways for a kid to work on multiplication tables over the summer

[Anonymous]

My kid (rising 4th grader) is struggling with recall of their times tables. They've learned them, and have tricks for remembering specific equations, but I'd say still about half of their multiplication tables require them to stop and either count or use a memory device to get to the correct answer.

I personally did not have my times tables down cold until 5th when I was a kid, so this seemed like no big deal to me, but my kid gets frustrated and says most other kids have faster recall and it means that problem sets and assignments take her a lot longer. She gets the right answer, but spends more time, and this is a source of frustration for her.

I wonder if there are any truly fun ways to work on this over the summer? Something we could do for 5 minutes a day or that she could do on her own maybe a few times a week? I don't want it to feel like just drilling the tables or doing sprints because I want her to get a true break over the summer (she has really earned it, she worked so hard this year) but I also don't want to set her up to feel this same frustrating, maybe increased, next year.

Would love specific recommendations for games or programs that could make this fun and not be a huge time commitment.

[Anonymous]

Reflex math. My daughter, who’s now a senior, used this program in school in 3rd grade, and has had all facts memorised since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reflex math. My daughter, who’s now a senior, used this program in school in 3rd grade, and has had all facts memorised since.

Thank you! Will check it out.

[Anonymous]

Xtramath is free and teachers use it. It's not really "fun" but you can assess if it meets your DD's needs.

https://home.xtramath.org/

I 100% agree that memorization of math facts is a critical asset.

It was my grandma (a trained educator) who insisted on me learning the tables 100% the summer after 5th grade. That was quite late. My school was too loosey-goosey. It did hold me back.

[Anonymous]

We did flash cards that summer. Also a card game called math wars or something like that where you had to add the equation to see which was bigger. Its truly just memorizing.

[Anonymous]

My kid was a little younger but singing along to Number Blocks did genuinely teach him his times tables. She might roll her eyes at it, but it's worth a try.

[Anonymous]

Flash cards - we did them as family after dinner. PLEASE help her with this! I teach 4th & 5th advance math as a sub. I cannot tell you how many of the ADVANCED kids have to count by 4s etc rather than just knowing it!

[Anonymous]

Deck of playing cards, with numbers only. Shuffle, deal two, multiply.

[Anonymous]

1). In my home country, we used to recite the multiplication table like a sing-song poem. Very rhythmic recitation. I was disappointed that this is not taught in US. Anyways, I taught it to my kids the way I was taught. And we practiced every morning on the way to school. Kids used to love it.

2) Also, there are a bunch of memorization tricks for most multiplication tables that are taught on youtube.

3) Then there are multiplication grid to fill from 1 to 12.

4) Wrap-up keys are a fun way for the kids to practice.

[Anonymous]

Honestly just flash cards. You can make the flash cards fun, it's about your attitude.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all, this is really helpful. Will try starting with just some card games and reflex math -- I'm really trying to avoid just assigning her math worksheets in the summer if I can. But yes, I'd love if she just had these down cold by the time school starts in the fall. Her end of year placement test actually put her in the most advanced math group for her grade, but her teacher noted that she took a lot longer to finish the test than most kids who are in that group. I know exactly what is happening -- she's working through each problem carefully and gets the concepts, so she's getting right answers, but she's getting slowed down by multiplication and division facts (especially for higher numbers) and that's why it's taking so long. She's going to feel so much less frustrated if she can get those down cold, it's just a question of putting in the time and hopefully not making it a huge slog for her.

[Anonymous]

If your kid prefers apps, this is great for multiplication practice: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/k12-mathbee/id6752494421

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Xtramath is free and teachers use it. It's not really "fun" but you can assess if it meets your DD's needs.

https://home.xtramath.org/

I 100% agree that memorization of math facts is a critical asset.

It was my grandma (a trained educator) who insisted on me learning the tables 100% the summer after 5th grade. That was quite late. My school was too loosey-goosey. It did hold me back.

Now that Xtramath has Awakening we utilized that as our reward for getting through a day of Xtramath. And yes, Xtramath really works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1). In my home country, we used to recite the multiplication table like a sing-song poem. Very rhythmic recitation. I was disappointed that this is not taught in US. Anyways, I taught it to my kids the way I was taught. And we practiced every morning on the way to school. Kids used to love it.

2) Also, there are a bunch of memorization tricks for most multiplication tables that are taught on youtube.

3) Then there are multiplication grid to fill from 1 to 12.

4) Wrap-up keys are a fun way for the kids to practice.

The bolded is how I learned as a second grader in the US. Also if you read Winnie the Pooh it's clearly what was normal when that book was written. It works WAY better as a whole class, but you can do it just you and your kid in a pinch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flash cards - we did them as family after dinner. PLEASE help her with this! I teach 4th & 5th advance math as a sub. I cannot tell you how many of the ADVANCED kids have to count by 4s etc rather than just knowing it!

This is my kid. Really high conceptual knowledge, and only in an advanced math class because her COGAT scores are undeniable, but before COGAT, none of her teachers even understood that she was naturally gifted in math, because we never drilled math facts at home until recently and when they worked on basic stuff in school, she seemed kinda average.