Helping Your Child With Times Tables (and the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check)

Times tables are one of those bits of primary maths that quietly unlock everything else. Once a child can recall them quickly, division, fractions, long multiplication and later algebra all get easier, because the working memory that was tied up counting on fingers is free to think about the actual problem. The good news for busy families is that the best way to learn them is also the least painful: little and often. Five minutes in the car or over breakfast, most days, beats a tense hour of drilling at the weekend. This guide explains what the Year 4 check involves and gives you a handful of low-pressure tactics that genuinely work at home.

What the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check is

Since 2022 the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) has been a statutory assessment for children in Year 4 in England, taken in a two-week window in June. It is an on-screen check: children answer around 25 multiplication questions drawn from the 2 to 12 times tables, with roughly 6 seconds to answer each one and a short pause between questions. The whole thing takes only a few minutes per child. The questions are deliberately weighted towards the trickier tables (the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 12s), and children usually get a few practice questions first to get used to the format. Schools handle the arrangements, including support for children with additional needs, so if anything is unclear the class teacher is the right person to ask.

A couple of things are worth holding on to. The MTC is a low-stakes check of recall, not a pass-or-fail exam, and there is no "pass mark" a child needs to hit. It is there to tell the school how fluent the year group is, not to label your child, so the calmer you are about it, the better. For the wider school calendar around it, our Newcastle school term dates guide is handy for planning.

Little and often, at home

The single most effective habit is short, frequent practice. Aim for five minutes a day rather than a long session once a week. Recall improves through repetition spaced out over time, so daily little bursts beat cramming every time.

Start by spotting the tricky tables. Most children pick up the 2s, 5s and 10s quickly, and the 11s are easy up to 11 x 9. The ones that tend to cause trouble are the 6s, 7s, 8s and 12s, plus the classic stumbling block of 7 x 8. Focus your practice time on the handful of facts your child actually finds hard rather than chanting the whole lot they already know. It is also worth teaching the trick that multiplication is commutative: if they know 3 x 8, they already know 8 x 3, which quietly halves the job.

Chanting and songs still earn their place, especially for younger children, and there are plenty of free times-tables songs online. But mix in recall the other way round too, asking "what is 6 times 7?" out of order, because the check does not go up the table neatly and neither does real life.

Make it part of everyday life

Some of the best practice does not look like practice at all. The supermarket is full of times tables: three packs of yoghurts at four in each, how many altogether? Cooking is another natural fit, doubling or tripling a recipe, or working out how many eggs you need across a couple of batches. Sharing out sweets, counting the wheels on a row of cars, totting up the score in a board game, all of it reinforces the same facts in a way that sticks because it means something.

Old-fashioned tools still work brilliantly and cost little. A set of physical flash cards, or ones you make together on scrap card, let you play quick-fire rounds and "beat your own time" challenges. Dice and a pack of playing cards turn multiplication into a game: flip two cards and multiply them, first to answer wins the pair. Keep it light. The moment it becomes a source of stress, the learning stops, so stop while it is still fun.

Apps and digital practice

Screen-based practice can be genuinely useful here, because a good app gives instant feedback and turns repetition into a game children actually want to play. Times Tables Rock Stars is the best known and is used by a lot of schools, so your child may already have a login worth asking the teacher about. There are also free resources from schools and on the BBC Bitesize maths pages, which are a sensible no-cost starting point.

If you would like a daily-habit app that goes a little wider, StarKids, our own learning app, is one option to look at. Its Daily Quest covers maths including times tables alongside spelling, literacy, telling the time, geography and even reading music, and the difficulty adapts to your child with parent-approved level-ups, so they only move up when you are happy they are ready. There is a try-before-you-sign-up demo with no account needed, so you can see whether it suits your child before committing to anything. You can take a look at StarKids and decide for yourself. Whichever app you choose, treat it as one tool among several rather than the whole plan, and keep the daily sessions short.

When to get a bit more help

Most children get there with steady home practice and what they do in class, so try not to worry if progress feels slow at first. If your child is finding times tables genuinely distressing, or is well behind where the class is and it is knocking their confidence, the first and best step is a quiet word with their teacher. Teachers see this all the time, can tell you exactly which facts to target, and often have resources to send home. If you do decide a private tutor would help, look for someone who keeps it low-pressure and playful rather than piling on more of the same drilling. The aim throughout is fluency with a bit of enjoyment attached, not a child who can recite tables but dreads maths.