Here’s a fun game your family can play to review the times tables. For beginners, remove the face cards. Give aces a value of 1. Divide the deck into two. Take the top two cards of the each deck and have your child multiply these. Example: 8 x 7 =?
Why not also practice addition and subtraction at this time? This will help reinforce the commutative property of multiplication and addition, i.e., 8 x 7 is the same as 7 x 8. The order does not matter. 8 x 7 = 7 x 8. The same for addition: 8 + 7 is the same as 7 + 8. However, the order matters in subtraction. 8 – 7 is not the same as 7 – 8. The order does matter. 8 – 7 = 1 but 7 -8= -1. If you owe someone $8 but give that person $7, you owe that person $1. You are minus $1.
For more advanced students, include the face cards. The King would represent 12; the Queen, table 11 and the Jack, is a wild card. It can represent any number your child chooses. Table 11 is easy because of its fun pattern — the doubling of each number: 22, 33, 44 and so on. Table 12 has to be learned. If need be, provide pencil and paper and have your child actually do the multiplication. This will give your child practice in double-digit multiplication.
For multiplying numbers 10 to 18 by 11, notice how the middle number is the sum of the number being multiplied. Example: 12 x 11 = 132 [1 + 2= 3 — three is the middle number.] Another example: 14 x 11 = 154. How easy is that? When the sum is larger than 9 as in 19 x 11, increase the left-hand number by 1. Example: 11 x 9 = 209 [1 + 9 = 10. The middle number will be 0. Carry the 1 and 1+1 = 2].
Make learning math a GAME in your house. Math is fun!