How to Teach Times Tables the Waldorf Way

The Waldorf way to teach times tables starts with the body, not the worksheet. Your child counts in 2s, then 3s, then 4s while stepping, clapping or tossing a beanbag, until the rhythm is easy. Then they see each table as a shape, by winding yarn around a circle of 10 points: the 4s make a five-pointed star, and the 5s go straight across and back. Only after that do they write the table out and learn it by heart, with a few minutes of practice every day.

Do Waldorf schools teach multiplication in grade 2?

Yes, and a lot of it. In many Waldorf schools, multiplication arrives in grade 1 as one of the four operations, told as a story. The first tables often come then too. Peter van Alphen's teacher training manual for Waldorf schools in East Africa suggests starting with the 2s, then the 5s, 10s and 3s, all learnt through movement.

Grade 2 builds on that. The same manual calls it "the year of learning many tables", because 7 and 8 year olds often have the energy for much more than they did a year earlier. The 4s and 6s come first, since they grow out of the 2s and 3s. Then the 8s, which grow out of the 4s. Many teachers bring in the 9s and 11s early too, because their patterns are easy to hear.

Some grade 2 curricula go through every table from 1 to 12 in a single block. The grade 2 curriculum guide shows where the times tables sit in the year, between place value and nature study.

Rhythm first: counting in multiples

Before your child says "3 times 4 is 12", they learn to count in 4s, and before that, they learn to feel the beat. Van Alphen describes the steps for a new table like this, using the 4s:

1. Count 2, 4, 6, 8 up to 20 (which your child already knows), stepping on each number and stamping harder on every second one.
2. Count again, whispering the in-between numbers: (2), 4, (6), 8.
3. Leave the in-between numbers out altogether, but keep stepping where they would be.
4. Now say only the 4s: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20.

Each step gets several days before the next one. For the second half of the table, you show that a table is always adding the same number again: 20 and 4 more is 24, and 4 more is 28.

This is slower than handing over a chart. What your child hears is a pattern in numbers they already know, so the new table feels familiar from the first day.

Movement: stepping, clapping and beanbags

Waldorf teachers bring the tables into the whole body. Some movements to try, from van Alphen's manual and from Lavender's Blue:

• Step on the first number, stand still and clap on the second.
• Touch toes, knees, hips, shoulders and head for 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, then go round again for 24 to 40.
• Clap hands with a partner, crossing right and left, one clap for each multiple.
• Toss a beanbag from hand to hand on each number, or back and forth with a parent.
• Hop, skip, gallop or jump rope while counting forwards and then backwards.

Then play with it. Say the table slowly, then fast. Whisper it, then say it like a giant. When the numbers start to come out flat, as if your child is no longer thinking, that's your sign to change the movement. The repetition stays, and the movement keeps it awake.

There's some research behind the idea. One Danish study followed 165 first graders, around 7 and a half years old, for six weeks. Children whose math lessons included whole-body movement improved more on a math test than children whose lessons used fine-motor activities, such as building with LEGO. The study was small, and the gains showed for typical learners rather than for children who were struggling. Still, it fits what many Waldorf teachers see every morning.

The circle of 10: every table has a shape

Once your child can count a table well, you can show them its hidden shape. Draw a circle with 10 points around the edge and number them 0 to 9, with 0 at the top. Count in 2s, and look only at the last digit of each number: 2, 4, 6, 8, then 0. Join those points in order and you get a pentagon.

Every table makes a shape this way:

• The 1s and 9s make a ten-sided shape, going round in opposite directions.
• The 2s and 8s make a pentagon.
• The 3s and 7s make a ten-pointed star.
• The 4s and 6s make a five-pointed star.
• The 5s go straight across and back.

The pairs that share a shape always add up to 10. Your child doesn't need to be told this. Let them find it. The 11s and 12s repeat the shapes of the 1s and 2s, because their last digits come round in the same order.

Starpath's Maths Magic guide builds a whole block around this. On the first day your child makes a Magic Wheel from a cardboard circle, 10 counters to space the points and a toothpick at each one. Each day after, they wind yarn around the wheel for a new table. The guide's advice: don't say what shape is coming. Your child counts aloud, winds carefully and steps back to see it. Then they draw the pattern on one page of the main lesson book and write the table on the other.

From counting to knowing the table

Counting in 4s isn't quite the same as knowing that 7 × 4 is 28. Van Alphen's manual moves from one to the other with movement again: step on "28", then clap three times for "is 7 times 4". Then you turn it round, so your child says "7 times 4 is 28" as well.

Writing comes after. Your child copies the table into the main lesson book in coloured crayon, once it's already in their body. Fact families come next: 3 × 4, 4 × 3, 12 ÷ 3 and 12 ÷ 4 are four ways of saying the same thing. The Maths Magic block sets aside days for them, drawing the three numbers in a triangle.

If you're worried Waldorf math is too gentle, is Waldorf math rigorous enough? walks through what's covered in each grade. Will my Waldorf child be behind in math? compares it with school standards year by year.

How do you practise times tables at home?

Little and often. Five to ten minutes a day works better than a long session once a week. Many families put it in the morning circle, after the verse and before the main lesson.

A simple rhythm for a week:

• Monday: count the new table while stepping, stamping on each multiple.
• Tuesday: the same count, whispering the numbers in between.
• Wednesday: only the multiples, with partner clapping.
• Thursday: wind the table on the circle of 10, or draw its shape.
• Friday: say the table itself ("4 is 1 times 4") while tossing a beanbag.

Keep the tables your child already knows alive too. Start with an old one they can do easily, then move to the new one. Children often enjoy the old table more once they can do it fast.

Songs work the same way. Sing the multiples to a tune your child already knows, or make up a chant with a clap on each number. You don't need a special tables album.

Is grade 2 too early for times tables?

Not in most Waldorf schools. By grade 2, many children have been counting in rhythm for a whole year, so the tables grow out of something they already know. What Waldorf teachers usually leave out is timed tests and speed charts.

For comparison, the national curriculum in England expects children in Year 2 (ages 6 to 7) to recall the 2, 5 and 10 tables. By Year 4 (ages 8 to 9), it expects all the tables up to 12 × 12. A Waldorf grade 2 year that works through many tables sits comfortably alongside that.

If your child finds a table hard, go back a step. Count it again with movement, whisper the in-between numbers, and wind it on the circle. Some children need a table for weeks, and that's fine.

Where to start

This week, pick the 2s. Count to 20 with your child while stepping round the kitchen, stamping on every second number. Do it for five minutes a day. By Friday, whisper the odd numbers, and see if your child can keep the beat.

If you're choosing a full curriculum for the year, the best Waldorf homeschool curriculum for grade 2 compares the options. For how the four operations first arrive in grade 1, read about the Waldorf math gnomes.