Strengthening Basic Multiplication Skills in Children

Yesterday, as I presented my student with a worksheet of basic multiplication questions, she started to yawn (unintentionally, of course). I've been working with this kid for the past 2 months to really strengthen her multiplication skills. We've already worked on the individual times tables: 2 - 12. Unfortunately, I only see her 3x a weeks and I doubt she even looks at the multiplication tables the other days. BUT the only way any child is going to be an expert with basic multiplication is to practice, practice, practice everyday until they get it.

The problem is, how to make them practice without boring them out of their minds?

So, this is what we did yesterday... We created a game out of the multiplication grid.

She wrote in the ones that she absolutely knew... ones that she could answer in 2 seconds. The ones where she hesitated, we put a colored paper. So now, she can take home this game, and fill up the missing blanks with counters that show the correct answer. This way, she only practices the ones that she has been having problems remembering. It is sort of like 'target practice'.

So if you have a child that has already learned all the multiplication tables but are still struggling to remember certain ones, this is one way to target those troubled areas and have fun at the same time.