Notes for Parents and Carers
A short guide to using this times tables tool at home.
A quick note first
This tool is not a full “learn times tables from scratch” programme, and it is not meant to turn home into extra school.
Most progress comes from what children do in class, plus regular practice in everyday life. This tool is here for short sessions that help with recall, and for getting familiar with the style of Year 4 MTC questions if you need it.
What this tool is for
- Quick practice for times tables recall
- Useful for early tables as well as building fluency across more tables
- Optional practice for the English Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check format
- A simple routine for a few minutes at a time
What this tool is not
- A complete times tables course
- A replacement for school teaching
- Something you need to do every day
Different ages, different focus
KS1 (Years 1 to 2)
Many children start with 2s, 5s and 10s. Untimed practice is usually best here. Keep it short. A few questions is enough.
Lower KS2 (Years 3 to 4)
Children often add more tables and start mixing them. This is also when Year 4 pupils in England take the MTC. Timed practice and the check-style mode can be useful if your child is ready for it.
Upper KS2 (Years 5 to 6)
Most children are fairly fluent by now. Some benefit from occasional refreshers, especially with mixed tables or quick recall.
Best practice for learning times tables
What tends to help most is a mix of quick recall practice and making sure the facts still connect to meaning.
Do short retrieval practice little and often (5–10 minutes, a few times a week). Regular, brief recall sessions are a common feature of whole-school approaches to times tables.
Space it out across time, rather than doing one big “tables session”. Returning to the same facts after a gap helps pupils remember more over time than cramming.
Mix old and new tables (interleave). Once a table has been introduced, keep bringing it back alongside others so recall is practised in a mixed context, not only in neat blocks.
Use representations to keep facts connected to understanding. Arrays and equal groups help children see what a fact means (and spot patterns like commutativity). This supports fluency, not just chanting.
Practice “missing number” and related facts. Questions like “? × 7 = 56” encourage flexible thinking (seeing 56 as 7 groups of 8, or as 8 × 7) and link multiplication and division. This aligns with representing equal groups and working with equations, not just recall.
Keep it calm. You get better learning when practice stays short and sustainable. If it’s not going well, stopping and returning later is usually more effective than pushing through. (This is consistent with the “little and often” retrieval approach above.)
About the Year 4 MTC (England)
The Multiplication Tables Check is an online check for Year 4 pupils in England, usually in June. It has 25 questions with 6 seconds per answer. This tool includes a check-style mode that mimics that format.
If your child finds it difficult, it usually means they need more time building recall speed. It isn’t a judgement on their overall maths ability.
Official guidance
The Department for Education and the Standards and Testing Agency publish guidance and information each year.
Useful link: Multiplication Tables Check on GOV.UK
This is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with the Department for Education or the Standards and Testing Agency.