Turning times tables into a game of Memory

 

I've honestly never had a student complain about playing a game of Memory involving times tables.  It's interesting that when you take the sole focus off the times tables, they become a means to an end, winning, and not a chore in and of themselves.  I also find that students are rarely asked to remember anything for longer than a few weeks, so their memories are understandably weak and could use some practice.

I have sets of cards for each of the times tables, and students first complete a game of Memory, where you have to turn over two cards that 'match', in this case a 4 x 7 = card and a 28 card.  With each card turned over, students say out loud which card they are looking for, reinforcing their basic facts.  The point is to match all the cards, with as little emphasis as possible on who gets the most pairs.

After completing Memory, students will often line up all the pairs in order

before playing a skip counting game.  For this last activity, two students take turns running through the multiples, with the added challenge that after they reach the end, a student gets to turn one more card upside down, increasing the challenge.  By the time they finish, they are generally able to skip count to ten times the number (40 if they are working on 4s).