Not knowing these facts makes learning the rest of math a lot harder.

Most middle schoolers won’t appreciate parents drilling them on these facts. So instead, strengthen your child’s skills with these fun activities:

Hot potato. Call out a question (“eight times eight”) as you pitch a ball to your child. See if he can say the answer before he catches it. Count the times your child answers correctly.

One-minute tests. Twice a week, write out 50 problems. Time your child to see how many he can answer in a minute. Consider giving a reward if he beats his last score.

Multiplication duel. Remove the face cards from a card deck. Each player turns over one card. The player who first says the product of the cards wins them.

Beat the calculator. Write facts on slips of paper. Put them face down. As you turn one over, see if your child can say the product before you can solve it on a calculator.

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