Times tables and the multiplication chart
Guide · Updated 2026-08-23 · 4 min read
A multiplication chart is a times-table grid: the numbers 1 to 10 (or 12) across the top and down the side, with every product filled in where a row meets a column. It looks like rote-learning apparatus, but a good chart is really a map of patterns — and once a child can see the patterns, the tables stop being a list to memorise and start making sense. This guide covers how to read the grid, the patterns worth pointing out, and how to use a blank one for practice.
How to read the grid
Find a number along the top row and a number down the first column; the square where that column and row cross holds their product. 7 across and 8 down meet at 56, so 7 × 8 = 56. Because the grid is square, you can start from either factor and land on the same cell — which is the first pattern worth noticing.
The patterns that do the teaching
Symmetry: half the work
The chart is a mirror image across the diagonal from top-left to bottom-right. 7 × 8 and 8 × 7 sit in matching positions and both equal 56. This is the commutative property, and its practical payoff is huge: a learner who knows the upper half of the grid already knows the lower half. There are far fewer facts to learn than the full square suggests.
Square numbers on the diagonal
The cells running down that line of symmetry — 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36… — are the square numbers, where a number is multiplied by itself. Highlighting the diagonal gives children an anchor line through the middle of the chart and quietly introduces squares before they are ever named.
The easy columns first
Not all tables are equally hard, and the chart shows why. The ×1 row is the number itself; ×10 just adds a zero; ×2 is doubling; ×5 ends in 5 or 0 in an easy rhythm. Learning these first fills in most of the grid and shrinks what is left to a handful of “hard” facts around 6, 7 and 8.
The nine-times trick
The ×9 column hides two patterns: the digits of each answer add up to nine (18, 27, 36… → 1+8, 2+7, 3+6), and the tens digit counts up while the units digit counts down. Spotting that turns the nine-times table from the scariest into one of the friendliest.
Blank versus filled charts
A filled chart is a reference — pin it up, use it to check answers, trace the patterns. A blank chart is practice: filling it in from memory, a few columns at a time, is active recall, which is what actually builds fluency. A useful routine is to print several blanks and fill a bit more of the grid each day, starting with the easy rows so the page fills quickly and confidence builds.
The multiplication grid generator makes both. Choose a filled grid for the wall or a blank one to complete, and set the size to 10×10 or 12×12.
10×10 or 12×12?
The 10×10 grid matches the base-ten patterns most cleanly — the tens column and the fives are especially tidy — and it is the standard in many primary classrooms. The 12×12 grid goes further because so much everyday life is built on twelves: a dozen, inches in a foot, months in a year, hours on a clock. If a child is comfortable to ten, extending to twelve is a small, worthwhile step.
A companion: the hundred chart
Before or alongside the times-table grid, a hundred chart — the numbers 1 to 100 in a 10-wide grid — is excellent for seeing skip-counting as a visual pattern. Colour every fifth square and the five-times table appears down the columns; colour every third and a diagonal stripe emerges. The two charts reinforce each other: one shows the counting, the other shows the products.
Printing a set
Multiplication practice works best on paper you can write on, mark up and repeat. Print a filled chart for reference and a stack of blanks to complete, and use the true-size printing settings so the squares are big enough for young hands to write a two-digit answer in each cell.