Smart Starters · Ages 8 to 10
Mixed Number Speed Dash
Race between frozen research stations by adding and subtracting mixed numbers against a friendly timer, for ages 8 to 10.
5 levels+40 XP
ProgressNot started
5 levels · BeginnerPlay
Smart Starters · Ages 8 to 10
All Smart Starters gamesTimes Table Six Trail
Build fluency in the 6 times table with multiplication, missing factors and division. For ages 8 to 10.
Arcade6 times table fluency trail~7 min per level5 levelsAll devices
- Free · no account required
- COPPA compliant
- +10 XP per level
- 5 levels
- Plays on all devices
- Curriculum-aligned
The learning journey
Every activity is one step. Here is where this one fits.
- Play(you are here)Learn the idea in a game
- PractiseLock it in on paper
- ReviewCome back and keep it sharp
- MasterTake on a harder challenge
- AchieveEarn a certificate
About Times Table Six Trail
Times Table Six Trail covers one of the tables that England's Multiplication Tables Check deliberately over-samples, and it does so because the sixes, sevens, eights and nines are where children genuinely struggle. That weighting is not arbitrary: the tables with no easy pattern in their last digits and no short chant get less incidental practice, so they need more deliberate practice to reach the same standard. The sixes do have a route in, though, and it is the same one that makes the fours cheap: six times anything is double the three times fact. Six sevens is twenty one doubled, which is forty two. A child who has secured the threes already owns half the work here, and pointing that out turns a feared table into a derived one. This trail asks three question forms rather than one, because fluency is not recitation. It asks 6 times 8 in the usual direction, it asks 6 times what makes 48, which no chant can answer, and it asks 48 divided by 6, which is the same fact read backwards. The first two levels stay on straight multiplication and all three forms appear from the third. Multipliers reach twelve, matching the range tested in the check. Wrong markers are the adjacent multiples and near non-multiples, so a child who is one step out along the table can be told apart from one who is guessing. Free, no sign-up, no advertising shown to children.
Where to go next
Chosen by the skills this activity practises.
Next — more of the same skill
Printable worksheets for this skill
A hand for grown-ups
- Before you start
- Think of it as groups: "4 × 3" is four groups of three. Have something you can arrange into equal groups.
- While they work
- Skip-counting (3, 6, 9, 12…) is a solid way in before facts are memorised. Let them use it — speed comes later.
- Afterwards
- Spot arrays in real life together — eggs in a box, tiles on a floor. Rows-and-columns is multiplication you can see.
- Watch out for
- Treating it as harder addition and losing track. Grouping objects physically keeps the "equal groups" idea in view.
- Away from the screen
- Lay out objects in rows and columns and count them two ways. Cooking with doubled recipes is multiplication too.
How to play
A question appears on screen
A maths question is shown in large text at the centre of the play area. A timer bar begins counting down from 70 seconds.
Choose the correct answer
Answer options are shown as large buttons. Tap or click the correct option. Any input method works — touch, mouse or keyboard.
Build your streak
Each consecutive correct answer increases your streak. A longer streak lights up the flame icon and adds a bonus multiplier to the XP you earn for the level.
Finish the level
Each level has 6 questions. Complete them to earn the full level reward (+10 XP, plus up to +10 XP for a perfect run). Progress is saved locally and shown on the Parent Dashboard.
Curriculum alignment
Mapped to national curriculum frameworks so teachers and parents can match practice to school standards.
- United StatesCommon Core State Standards for Mathematics · times-tables, multiplication, fluencyAligned to times-tables, multiplication, fluency number and operations objectives.
- United KingdomNational Curriculum for England — Maths · times-tables, multiplication, fluencyAligned to times-tables, multiplication, fluency number and operations objectives.
- AustraliaAustralian Curriculum v9.0 — Mathematics · times-tables, multiplication, fluencyAligned to times-tables, multiplication, fluency number and operations objectives.
- CanadaPan-Canadian Provincial Standards · times-tables, multiplication, fluencyAligned to times-tables, multiplication, fluency number and operations objectives.
Common questions from parents & teachers
Everything you need to know before your child starts playing.
- Because the sixes, sevens, eights and nines have no obvious digit pattern and get less incidental practice, so children reach the check weakest on them.
- Yes. Six times anything is double the three times fact. Six sevens is twenty one doubled, which is forty two — so a child who knows their threes already owns half of it.
- Up to twelve, which matches the range the Multiplication Tables Check uses.
- Yes, from the third level, alongside missing-factor questions that a chant cannot answer.
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