Free Printable Multiplication Poster

Last summer, my daughter worked hard to learn her multiplication facts. Some facts she memorized, some she used strategies such as building on the facts that she already knew. For example, she adds one more number to her 11s to get to 12s. For 8 x 12, she multiplies 8 x 11 and adds 8. This was a multiplication strategy she completely taught herself.

At first she was annoyed with me for pushing her to learn her multiplication facts, especially during the summer. But now back in school, she's having an easier time working through homework and their Friday multiplication quizzes. She's also having an easier time with division, namely the partial quotients strategy they're currently learning and practicing.

When I taught algebra, I saw how not knowing multiplication facts affected my students. It affected factoring, but also my students' self-confidence. This was the main reason I pushed my daughter to learn her multiplication facts. I didn't want her losing confidence in math this early on because it's hard to regain that confidence once it's gone.

This post may sound like an advertisement for learning multiplication facts, but I really do feel that knowing them builds the confidence necessary to take on higher math. Still, if you have students who have a hard time memorizing, I'm hoping the resources in this post will help.

During our factoring unit in algebra 2, I went back and forth about giving my students a multiplication chart. I didn't want to be insulting, but I also knew that they needed the support. So I gave them a multiplication chart and we played a Let's Factor! game to get started on our factoring unit.

Let's Factor! PowerPoint Game

After giving my students the multiplication chart, I noticed some students couldn't read it. They didn't know to find the intersection of the rows and columns to find each product. This was something I wasn't expecting, and quite frankly it made me really sad. Not only did they not know their multiplication facts, they also couldn't use the tools available to them. Because there's a bit of redundancy in a multiplication chart, I pulled out half of the numbers with this triangular multiplication chart. The multiplication chart is free here in my blog's free math resource library.

Free multiplication chart

If you download the multiplication chart, there are directions on page 2 of the PDF for enlarging it into a multi-page poster. The directions will work to enlarge any PDF into a poster with any printer.

For older students, practicing with flashcards may not work because they'll think it's "baby" work and tune out. Asking, "What 2 numbers multiply to X that add to Y?" gamifies multiplication so that students get the multiplication practice without it feeling like practice. There is a set of What 2 Numbers? multiplication cards here. 

What 2 Numbers? Multiplication Cards

What have been your observations when it comes to kids learning their multiplication facts?