It's dinner, and someone asks your child, “What's seven times eight?” They go quiet, count on their fingers under the table, then guess. If the sevens are on this week's homework sheet, you might wonder whether to start quizzing them every night, the way you may have learnt your own times tables.
Your child learns times tables a few at a time over several years of primary school, not as a hundred separate answers. Seven times eight can be built from two easier calculations, and you can practise during everyday activities.
Helping your child work out a tricky multiplication
Your child can look at the two blocks of dots and name a times table they recognise. The fives and twos are ones children meet earlier at school, so they may already know both parts of this example.
You don't need to teach this as a method. You can ask, “Is there a calculation you already know that could help?” and give your child time to find one. The Victorian Department of Education suggests not jumping in with answers, and encouraging your child to talk about how they'd work a problem out instead. Your child may draw this differently in class and can show you how.
7 × 8, built from 5 × 8 and 2 × 8
Seven rows of eight dots, split after the fifth row.
5 × 8 = 40
2 × 8 = 16
7 × 8 = 56
Your child can also use doubling. Eight is double four, so eight times seven is four times seven doubled: 28 and 28 make 56.
Which times tables your child's class is likely working on
The Victorian Curriculum describes learning in levels. You can use Levels 3 and 4 as reference points for your Year 3 or 4 child, alongside their own progress and classwork. Level 3 includes the threes, fours, fives and tens and related division. By the end of Level 3, children are also expected to recall the twos. Level 4 includes multiplications up to 10 × 10, their related division calculations and explaining patterns.
The 16 multiplications left after the ones, twos, threes, fours, fives and tens
Each square is one multiplication. Knowing 3 × 7 also gives your child 7 × 3.
A 10 by 10 multiplication chart. 19 of its 100 multiplications use a two, 56 more use a three, four, five or ten, and 9 more use a one. The 16 left are the sixes, sevens, eights and nines multiplied by each other, from 6 × 6 = 36 to 9 × 9 = 81.
- Twos
- Threes, fours, fives and tens
- 6, 7, 8 and 9 times each other
- Ones
The 16 multiplications left on the chart can each be built the way seven times eight was: five rows of the number, plus a few more. Schools plan their own teaching order, so your child, or their homework sheet, can tell you which times tables the class is on now.
The exact curriculum wording for Levels 3 to 5
At Level 5, your child connects multiplication and division: 7 × 8 = 56, so 56 ÷ 8 = 7.
These content descriptions say what is taught; “facts” are calculations and their answers. The achievement standards describe learning expected by the end of each level.
- Level 3: “recall and demonstrate proficiency with multiplication facts for 3, 4, 5 and 10; extend and apply facts to develop the related division facts”
- Level 4: “recall and demonstrate proficiency with multiplication facts up to 10 × 10 and related division facts, and explain the patterns in these; extend and apply facts to develop efficient mental and written strategies for computation with larger numbers without a calculator”
- Level 5: “recognise and explain the connection between multiplication and division as inverse operations and use this to develop families of number facts”
“Inverse operations” means operations that undo each other. You can read these descriptions and the achievement standards in the Victorian Curriculum Mathematics Version 2.0.
Our guide to Year 4 maths covers the rest of what your child learns that year.
Fitting practice into an ordinary week
Everyday activities can offer chances to practise. A week has seven days, so “How many days until the holidays, if they're three weeks away?” is a sevens question. Six eggs in each carton makes counting a few cartons a sixes question. Spiders' legs are eights, 5 and 10 cent coins are fives and tens, and sharing a punnet of strawberries evenly is division.
You can also try doubling or halving a recipe. For a game, use cards numbered 2 to 10: turn one over and multiply it by the times table your child is practising.
There's no need for a timer at home. The Department advises keeping speed out of these activities. For a while, your child may still build seven times eight each time before it comes straight to mind, and that's an ordinary part of learning it.
If some times tables stay hard
Your child may still be stuck on a few multiplications after weeks of everyday practice. Their class teacher is a good first person to talk to, because they know which times tables and strategies the class is using and can suggest what to practise at home. You can also ask whether the school runs any extra maths support, such as small groups or an after-school club, and what it offers.
If you'd like more one-to-one time on them, our Primary Maths tutors work with children from Foundation to Year 6, in person across Melbourne or online, and can work alongside the class topic.
The next time seven times eight comes up over dinner, you have a question ready: what do you already know that could help?
Other questions about times tables
Does my child need to learn the 11 and 12 times tables?
The Level 4 multiplication description specifies up to 10 × 10. Some classes go further, and your child can tell you if theirs does.
Is a times tables chart worth having at home?
Yes, as somewhere to look an answer up and to spot patterns in the answers. On a 10 × 10 chart, the fives all end in 5 or 0, and the digits of each answer in the nines add up to 9.
Is it OK if my child counts on their fingers?
Yes. Counting up in eights (8, 16, 24 and so on) is a way for your child to work out an answer while they are still learning to recall it.
What if my child's school does timed times tables tests?
Schools decide how they check times tables, and some use short tests. Your child's teacher can tell you what a test is for and what, if anything, they'd like you to do at home.
Where to check the details
We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.
