Smart Starters · Ages 8 to 10
8 Times Table Colour by Number
Solve eight times table facts, then colour by the answer. Five levels with answer keys.
The learning journey
Every activity is one step. Here is where this one fits.
- PlayLearn the idea in a game
- Practise(you are here)Lock it in on paper
- ReviewCome back and keep it sharp
- MasterTake on a harder challenge
- AchieveEarn a certificate
About 8 Times Table Colour by Number
Colouring is not a reward tacked onto the end of a times table worksheet — it is what makes thirty repetitions of the same table tolerable, and thirty repetitions is roughly what fluency costs. Every cell on this grid holds an eight times table fact written as a division, so the child works backwards from the product to the multiplier and colours the cell by what they find. Keying the colour legend on the multiplier rather than the product is deliberate: eight colours covering one to eight stays scannable, where a legend running eight, sixteen, twenty-four and upwards would be as long as the table itself and a child would lose their place in it. Thirty cells per page in a five by six grid, with the key printed at the top. The levels widen the range of facts in play rather than changing what is asked, so a child secure to five moves up towards twelve as their recall grows. Every colour in the key is guaranteed to appear on the page, so no legend entry goes unused. Each level prints as a clean A4 sheet in black and white — the child supplies the colour — and downloads with its own answer key giving the value and colour of every cell. Its on-screen twin is Times Table Eight Trail.
Common questions
- Why is the colour key on the multiplier, not the product?
- Eight colours for one to eight stays scannable. A legend running 8, 16, 24 upwards would be as long as the table itself.
- Do I need a colour printer?
- No. The page prints in black and white — the child supplies the colour.
- Does every colour get used?
- Yes. Every entry in the key is guaranteed to appear on the page.
- How many cells are on a page?
- Thirty, in a five by six grid with the key at the top.
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.
Where to go next
Chosen by the skills this activity practises.