Printable Mental Multiplication Worksheets
These printable mental multiplication worksheets teach 3rd and 4th grade students to multiply in their heads, one trick at a time, and a few sheets stretch into 5th grade. Every sheet explains its trick once at the top, then asks your child to write each step, and every sheet has an answer key.
Mental Multiplication Practice Pack. Ready to Print.
Structured, printable skill sheets with step-by-step guidance for Mental Multiplication.
Build My PacketIncluded with Practice Buds MembershipTargeted Practice by Skill
Multiply by 5: half of times 10
Multiply by 5 the quick way
Double and double again
Multiply by 4 and 8 by doubling
Doubling and halving
Make a product easier to find
Round up, then take back
Multiply numbers that end in 9
Pick the trick
Choose the quickest trick
Squares of numbers ending in 5
Square numbers that end in 5
Just below, just above
Multiply numbers close together
Pick the trick: all the tricks
Choose from six tricks
About Mental Multiplication
What this skill is
Mental multiplication means using what you already know to turn a hard problem into an easy one. To multiply by 5, multiply by 10 and take half: 18 × 5 is 180, and half of 180 is 90. To multiply by 4, double the number and double it again. To work out 19 × 3, find 20 × 3 and take away one group of 3. Each trick has its own sheet, and the two Pick the Trick sheets mix them so your child has to choose which one fits.
When children learn it
In 3rd grade, children learn to use the properties of multiplication to solve problems and to multiply within 100 with ease (Common Core 3.OA.B.5 and 3.OA.C.7). In 4th grade they multiply larger numbers with strategies based on place value (4.NBT.B.5). The sheets on squares and on numbers just below and just above a round number go a little further, for 4th and 5th graders who enjoy number patterns. Aligned to Common Core.
Teaching Tips
- Say the steps out loud on the first problem. Ask: five is half of ten, so what is 18 times ten? Now what is half of that? Hearing the steps in order is what lets a child do them silently later.
- Before your child solves a problem on a Pick the Trick sheet, ask which trick they would use. The letter they write shows you how they are thinking, even when the answer is wrong.
- Check with a quick estimate. 19 × 3 should land just under 60, so an answer of 60 or 63 means a step went missing.
- Work through the single-trick sheets in order, one a day, and move to the Pick the Trick sheets when your child can name each trick without looking at the box.
Common Mistakes
- Stopping after multiplying by 10. For 18 × 5, a child writes 180 and forgets to take half.
- Doubling only once to multiply by 4, so 17 × 4 comes out as 34.
- Rounding up and not taking the extra back. 19 × 3 becomes 60. With 98 × 4, children often take away 2 instead of 2 groups of 4, and write 398 instead of 392.
- Halving one number and leaving the other alone. 14 × 5 becomes 7 × 5 = 35 instead of 7 × 10 = 70.
- Multiplying the tens digit by itself on the squares sheet. For 35 × 35, a child does 3 × 3 = 9 and writes 925 instead of 3 × 4 = 12 and 1,225.
- Using a trick when there is no shortcut. 6 × 7 has none, so a few problems on the harder Pick the Trick sheets are there to be remembered, not worked out.