Memory tricks from CP to CM2 (ages 6–11): the complete list

🔢 Maths & Numbers 39 tricks

1. The 9 times table on your fingers
2. The other secret of the 9 times table
3. Multiplying by 11“11 × 4 = 44 · 11 × 7 = 77”
4. Multiplying by 5 in a flash
5. Multiplying by 4 and by 8
6. Multiplying by 9 without your fingers
7. Multiplying by 10, 100, 1000
8. The friends that make 10
9. The big tables on your fingers (6 to 10)
10. The < and > signs: the crocodile
11. Which order do I calculate in?“BODMAS: Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction”
12. Perimeter or area?“Perimeter = Path around the edge · Area = All the inside”
13. Converting lengths (km, m, cm…)“King Henry Died Monday Drinking Chocolate Milk”
14. Masses and capacities
15. Reading Roman numerals“I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk”
16. The number Pi (π)“How I wish I could calculate pi”
17. Spotting multiples (without calculating)
18. Double and half
19. Telling the time on a clock
20. Fractions: half, quarter
21. Odd or even?“Even numbers can be shared, odd ones leave one out”
22. Setting out a sum without mistakes“Ones under ones, tens under tens!”
23. Rounding a number“Five or more, raise the score. Four or less, let it rest.”
24. Multiplying by 25 and by 50
25. Multiplying by 15
26. Squaring numbers that end in 5
27. The trick for the 7 times table“5, 6, 7, 8 → 56 = 7 × 8”
28. Half as many tables to learn!“3 × 7 = 7 × 3”
29. Which side do I start a sum on?“Always start from the right, with the ones”
30. Converting areas“For areas, each step is worth 100, not 10”
31. Converting volumes and litres
32. Perimeter and area of a square and a rectangle
33. Area of a triangle and a circle“Pies are round, but the area is pi r squared: πr²”
34. The angles to know
35. Reading big numbers“ones · thousands · millions · billions”
36. All the measures of time
37. Prime numbers
38. Dividing by 4: half of the half“÷ 4 = half… of the half!”
39. The multiples-of-4-and-6 detective

✏️ Spelling 38 tricks

1. their, there or they're?“tHEIR = the heir owns it · tHERE = here and there · THEY'RE = they are”
2. your or you're?
3. to, too or two?“TWO twins · TOO much · TO go”
4. its or it's?
5. whose or who's?
6. i before e, except after c“i before e, except after c”
7. The magic e“The magic e doesn't speak: it makes the vowel say its name”
8. Do I double the letter? (hop → hopping)“One vowel, one consonant: double up!”
9. Drop the e, keep the e
10. Plurals: -s or -es?“Hissing sounds need -es to breathe”
11. Plurals of words ending in -y
12. Plurals of words ending in -f
13. The rebel plurals“child → children · foot → feet · mouse → mice”
14. Silent letters (the ones you don't hear)
15. -tion, -sion or -cian?“A -cian is a person”
16. -able or -ible?“Able words are able to stand alone!”
17. necessary, separate, definitely“necessary: one Collar and two Sleeves”
18. because, beautiful, rhythm“because: Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants”
19. friend, piece, believe“a friend till the end · a piece of pie · never believe a lie”
20. island, Wednesday, February
21. affect or effect?“Affect = Action · Effect = End result”
22. practice or practise? advice or advise?
23. loose or lose?
24. quiet, quite or quit?
25. where, were or we're?
26. weather or whether?
27. hear or here?“You HEAR with your EAR”
28. know / no · knew / new · right / write
29. The apostrophe for belonging
30. Capital letters“A capital at the start, a full stop at the end!”
31. Vowels and consonants“A, E, I, O, U — and sometimes Y too”
32. Finding a word in the dictionary
33. b or d? The bed trick“Two fists, thumbs up: b e d”
34. Full stop, question mark, exclamation mark
35. Compound words: two words in one
36. Prefixes: un-, re-, dis-
37. The suffix -ly
38. -ful has only one l“Full has two l’s, but the ending -ful has one: hopeful, careful”

🔤 Grammar & Verbs 17 tricks

1. The magic -s of he, she, it“he, she, it → the verb takes an -s (he playsss!)”
2. Noun, verb or adjective?
3. Past, present, future
4. The regular past: add -ed
5. Irregular verbs: the sound families
6. was or were?“One was, the rest were”
7. did or done? saw or seen?
8. to be and to have in the present (by heart!)
9. a or an?
10. Verb or infinitive?
11. The subject bosses the verb“One boss, one -s: either on the noun or on the verb, never both”
12. Contractions: where did the letters go?
13. Never a double negative
14. Adverbs: the -ly words
15. Comparing: -er and -est
16. The future: will + verb“will + verb, the same for everyone”
17. Commands: the bossy verb

🗺️ Geography 13 tricks

1. The compass points“Never Eat Shredded Wheat”
2. The in-between directions
3. The longest rivers of the UK“Seven Thirsty Travellers Go Walking Together”
4. River, stream or lake?“Stream → river → sea”
5. Left and right on a map
6. The continents and the oceans“Oceans: Please Arrive In Style, Always”
7. Town, country, continent: the drawers“Town → county → country → continent → Earth”
8. Reading a map: the key
9. Latitude and longitude“Latitude = ladder · Longitude = long lines”
10. The equator and the tropics
11. Arctic or Antarctic?“Ant-arctic: the ants are at the bottom (south) with the penguins”
12. Port and starboard (on a boat)“PORT and LEFT both have four letters”
13. Sea or ocean?

🏛️ History 10 tricks

1. The 5 big periods of history“Please Always Make Early Meals”
2. What separates the periods
3. BC and AD
4. Reading a century from a date
5. Dates to know (1)“In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”
6. Dates to know (2)
7. The royal houses of England“No Plan Till Sunday, Henry Wins”
8. Remember them by their king (or queen)“Henry's wives: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”
9. The two world wars“The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”
10. The Union Jack

🔬 Science 22 tricks

1. The order of the planets“My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming”
2. Three planets not to forget
3. The colours of the rainbow“Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain”
4. Is the Moon growing or shrinking?“D = Developing, C = Closing”
5. Star or planet?
6. The 3 states of water“Ice melts, water boils, steam cools back down”
7. Insect or spider? Count the legs!“Insect = 6 legs · Spider = 8 legs”
8. Herbivore, carnivore, omnivore
9. Animals with a skeleton (vertebrates)“Many Birds Fly Round Africa”
10. The 5 senses
11. Why is there day and night?“Facing the Sun → day · Turned away → night”
12. The 4 seasons
13. The journey of water (the water cycle)“Evaporation · Condensation · Precipitation · Collection”
14. Who eats whom? The food chain
15. Stalactite or stalagmite?“StalaCtites hold on Tight to the Ceiling; stalaGmites Might reach it from the Ground”
16. Camel or dromedary?“Dromedary: a D lying down = 1 hump · Bactrian camel: a B lying down = 2 humps”
17. Magnets: attract or repel?“Opposites attract, twins push back”
18. Hot air rises, cold air sinks
19. Sorting all living things“King Philip Came Over For Good Soup”
20. Your body in numbers
21. Lightning and thunder
22. Venomous or poisonous?“Venomous: it bites you. Poisonous: you bite it.”

🎵 Art & Music 10 tricks

1. The 7 musical notes“Cats Don't Eat Fish, Goats Always Bark”
2. The lines of the stave“Every Good Boy Deserves Football”
3. The 3 primary colours“Red, Yellow, Blue: the three that make the rest for you”
4. Mixing colours“Blue + yellow = green (like grass in the sun!)”
5. Warm and cold colours
6. High and low
7. The notes in the spaces“F A C E”
8. How long is a note?
9. The 3 families of instruments“Rub it, blow it, or hit it!”
10. Drawing a face: the secret of the eyes

🌍 Words & Languages 8 tricks

1. The days of the week
2. The colours in other languages
3. Homophones: same sound, different word
4. he, she or it?
5. Counting to 10 in French and Spanish
6. Bigger words made easy: prefixes
7. The question words
8. Hello and thank you in 5 languages

💪 Everyday tricks 18 tricks

1. How many days in the month?
2. The rhyme of the 30-day months“Thirty days has September, April, June and November”
3. Your left and your right: the L hand“The L hand is the Left hand”
4. Tying your laces: the bunny ears“Bunny ears, bunny ears, playing by a tree. Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me.”
5. Remembering a list by heart
6. Remembering a number or a date
7. The 12 months in order
8. Yesterday, today, tomorrow“Yesterday is gone · Today is now · Tomorrow is coming”
9. Hour, minute, second“1 hour = 60 minutes · 1 minute = 60 seconds”
10. The times of the day
11. The leap year (29 February)
12. The Union Jack: which way up?
13. Traffic lights“Red = stop · Red + amber = get ready · Green = go · Amber alone = stop”
14. The clocks changing“Spring forward, fall back”
15. The numbers that save lives“Three nines, and help arrives”
16. The weather saying“Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.”
17. Learning a lesson properly“Read · Close the book and say it · Check · Again tomorrow”
18. Your turn now!“Funny, pictured, moving: your brain keeps it forever”

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