Times tables games: free ways to practise, and how the Year 4 check works

Key takeaways

• →The Year 4 multiplication tables check has 25 on-screen questions on tables up to 12, with 6 seconds each. The 2027 window starts on Monday 7 June, and there is no pass mark.
• →The Department for Education (DfE) says parents do not need to do anything extra to prepare. Games are for fun and confidence, and teachers may ask for normal practice at home.
• →Free options: our free times tables check practice, Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk online, and cards, dice and paper offline. Times Tables Rock Stars costs £7.20 a year unless your school subscribes.
• →The evidence points to short, varied practice most days, with games to keep it fun, and with understanding alongside speed.

1. Times tables games to try this week

The best times tables games are short, easy to repeat and a bit silly. Below are the free or low-cost online games we checked, then games that need only cards, dice and paper. Most families start because of the Year 4 multiplication tables check, so we explain that too.

Start small: Pick one game and play it for five minutes. If your child asks for another go, you have found the right one.

2. The Year 4 times tables check in brief

Pupils in state-funded schools in England take the multiplication tables check at the end of Year 4, when most are age 9.^[1]

It is done on a screen at school. There are 25 questions on times tables up to 12, and your child has 6 seconds for each one, after 3 practice questions.^[2]

Schools must run the check in a two-week window. In 2027 it starts on Monday 7 June.^[3]

There is no pass mark. DfE says the check should take no longer than 5 minutes on average, and your child’s teacher shares the score. Schools use the results to spot pupils who need more support.^[2]

In 2025 the national average score was 21.0 out of 25, and 37% of pupils scored full marks, the most common score.^[4]

GOV.UK says the assessment arrangements for 2026 to 2027 will remain unchanged after the Curriculum and Assessment Review.^[5]

DfE’s leaflet for parents says you do not need to do anything additional to prepare your child, though teachers may ask you to practise times tables at home as usual. So play for fun and confidence, not because you must.^[2]

Dates can move: We checked the 2027 window on GOV.UK on 31 October 2026. Ask your child’s school which day they will sit it.

3. Our free times tables check practice

Our free times tables check practice, on brainhubtutoring.com, copies the check’s timing: 25 questions, 6 seconds each, with times tables up to 12. Your child types each answer and presses Enter. There is no sign-up.

You can choose one times table or all of them mixed. At the end it shows the score and a list of facts to practise. It is our own tool, not the government’s check, and it has no practice questions.

DfE also gives schools an official “try it out” check. Pupils sign in with a school PIN and password, can take it as many times as they need, and get no result. In 2026 pupils could use it from 27 April. Ask the teacher whether your child can have a go.^[6]

4. Other free and low-cost online games

Hit the Button, from Topmarks, is a quick-fire game. Its times tables mode has a level for each table up to ×12, or mixed tables. You are either given the question and hit the answer, or given the answer and hit the question.^[7]

Topmarks’ own blog calls the online game free. Topmarks also sells apps, so use the web game if you do not want to pay.^[8]

timestables.co.uk has games, a speed test, worksheets and a times tables grid. It describes its games as free, shows adverts, and offers a free sign-up to save progress.^[9]

Scholastic’s times tables page links to a free online practice it says is “just like the real thing”. We could not tell from the page whether it needs an account.^[10]

Times Tables Rock Stars is the low-cost option. A 12-month family subscription is £7.20 including VAT, for up to three children. There is no free trial, but you can get a full refund in the first 30 days. If your child’s school subscribes, your child can log in with the account their teacher made, and you pay nothing.^[11]

Check before you sign up: Prices and free offers change. Look at each site before you or your child sign up for anything.

5. Card, dice and paper games

These need no screen. We made them up from everyday practice, so they are not from a study. Keep each one to a few minutes.

Card flip. Take the aces and kings out of a pack, and count jacks as 11 and queens as 12. Each player turns over one card. The first to say the two numbers multiplied together, correctly, wins both cards. The most cards wins.

Dice and a target table. Pick a table, say 8. Roll two dice and add them to get a number from 2 to 12. Multiply it by 8. Win a point for a right answer inside 6 seconds. First to ten points wins.

Beat your best. An adult asks ten facts from one table and times each with a kitchen timer set to 6 seconds. Write the score on a chart. The aim is to beat your own last score.

Memory pairs. Write facts such as 6 × 7 on some cards and answers such as 42 on others. Lay them face down and turn over two at a time to find matching pairs.

Answer hunt. Write answers on sticky notes and hide them around a room. Call out a fact, and your child finds the matching note.

Draw it. On squared paper, draw a rectangle 6 squares wide and 7 tall, then count the squares to find 42. It shows why 6 × 7 and 7 × 6 give the same answer.

6. Which tables, and when

The national curriculum names the tables year by year, as in the table.^[12]

A sensible order: Start with the tables your child already knows, so they win early. Add one harder table at a time and spend most time on the facts they miss. In Year 5 the check is behind you, but tables still help with fractions, area and long multiplication.

7. Little and often: what the evidence says

The national curriculum aims for pupils to become fluent in the fundamentals of maths “through varied and frequent practice”.^[12]

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) says quick recall of facts is an important part of becoming fluent, meaning quick and accurate in maths. It also says that simply giving pupils time to practise is not enough: practice needs to be varied and frequent. It suggests games as a motivating way to repeat practice.^[13]

The EEF says known facts free up working memory, the space we use to hold ideas while we think, for harder maths. It adds that recall is only one part of fluency, alongside understanding and using facts in different situations. So talk about why 6 × 7 is 42, with pictures, as well as practising it.^[13]

An EEF blog on supporting maths at home suggests creating a daily routine for maths practice with your child.^[14]

The EEF’s maths guidance for schools says pupils should be able to recall their times tables quickly.^[15]

Spreading practice out over time was one of the two most useful techniques in a review of ten study methods, says the Association for Psychological Science, which adds that this has been shown for students of all ages. That review was about study in general, not times tables alone.^[16]

Putting it together, our advice is a few minutes most days rather than one long weekend session. Mix up the order of the facts, and stop while your child still wants more.

A few minutes most days beats one long session.

8. How Brainhub can help

Brainhub teaches one-to-one primary maths, live online across the UK, from £25 an hour. If times tables feel stuck, a tutor can find which facts are missing, keep practice short and playful, and link it to the maths your child is doing in class. Every family starts with a free 45-minute assessment.

1. 1. How many questions are in the Year 4 multiplication tables check, and how long does each one last?

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2. 2. When does the 2027 check window start?

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3. 3. Do parents have to practise at home for the check?

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Your next steps

• Ask your child’s teacher which day the check is and which tables to focus on.
• Try our free times tables check practice once, then pick a card or dice game for most days.
• Book a free 45-minute assessment if times tables feel stuck.

Subject guides to go with this

Want one-to-one help? See how our online lessons work.