Lesson 86: Abacus times tables practice for kids
Level 7, Times Market. Every table from 2 to 10. Fill the bead jar.
What your child does, card by card
All the tables practice. Practice day! PlayBuddy opens the lesson: “Practice time. Let's get quicker and better.”
4 × 7: the abacus makes 7, 9, 4, 14, 11, 21 and 28 by itself, a green ring on each bead just before it moves, and the sum sheet below ticks each line. Four groups of 7: 7, 14, 21, 28.
In Try it a green ring marks the next bead while your child works out 6 × 3 and 9 × 2.
Ten beads to go: a mission of 10 tasks with a bead jar that fills with every right answer. Your child must work out 7 × 6, 8 × 4, 9 × 5, 6 × 6, 3 × 7, 8 × 9, 4 × 9, 7 × 8, 6 × 5 and 9 × 8.
In your head: the abacus is covered and your child works out 7 × 7, 8 × 6 and 9 × 3, picking each answer from 27, 48 and 49.
Jar full! All the tables, a jar full.
What this lesson trains
15 answers, roughly five minutes: 30 moves of the beads, 9 of them with the top bead and 21 with bottom beads. Numbers reach 72, so the tens rod and the ones rod work. Then 3 quick looks in your head.
It starts with doing: work out 6 × 3 and 9 × 2.
The sum sheet
The lower window shows the column as a child would write it on paper: one number under another, the current line in yellow, ticks on the lines done. The abacus carries the running total from line to line.
What PlayBuddy and PlayType say
PlayType: “Times means groups of the same number.”
Stars
15 answers: 1 slip still gives three stars; up to 3, two stars.