Tangyuan MathLesson 5 · 10 min Stage 2 · Rules that shrink the work
Free wins: ×0, ×1, ×2 and ×10
Some rows of the times table cost nothing at all. Today your child banks them — and with the swap trick, four whole rows and their columns turn free at once.
In this lesson your child will answer anything × 0, × 1, × 2 and × 10 instantly — not by memory, but by one-line reasons they can say out loud.
Talk it through
"Some multiplications are so friendly they barely count as work. Today we collect all the free ones — open a card, meet the rule, say it back to me."
Open the four flip cards below one at a time. After each, make up two quick examples together (like 1 × 9 and 10 × 7) before moving on.
× 0
0 × 9 = 0. Zero plates of 9 crackers is no crackers at all. Anything times zero is zero.
× 1
1 × 7 = 7. One plate of 7 crackers is… 7 crackers. Anything times one stays itself.
× 2
2 × 7 = 14. Two plates of 7: 7 and 7. You have doubled numbers for years — ×2 is just that.
× 10
10 × 6 = 60. You have skip counted by tens since forever: 10, 20, 30… ×10 only asks which stop you land on.
Rapid-fire round, out loud, celebrating the speed: 1 × 5? 0 × 8? 2 × 6? 10 × 4? 1 × 12? 2 × 9? 10 × 8? — then flip a few with the swap: "If 1 × 12 = 12, what's 12 × 1?"
"Count what you now own: ×0, ×1, ×2, ×10 — four rows in the table. And every one is doubled by the swap trick. The times table just got much, much smaller."
Quick check
Common mix-ups
0 × 5 answered as 5. Adding sneaks in (0 + 5 = 5). Go back to plates: zero plates, show me the crackers — there are none.- 10 × 4 answered as 14 or 104. Sticking digits together isn't the rule — counting tens is. Four hops of 10: 10, 20, 30, 40.
- ×2 treated as "+2". 7 × 2 is not 9 — it's double 7 = 14. Two plates of 7, never "7 and two more".
Play it now
A full 1–10 round. The free facts will feel instant — that's the point: the bank of easy wins keeps the round fun while the newer facts get their reps.