💡 Mnemonic phrases: the 30 that stick in your head

A mnemonic phrase is a short, often silly sentence that files away in your head a list you could never remember otherwise: the order of the planets, the colours of the rainbow, the compass points. Your child recites it giggling… and twenty years later, it is still there.

Here are the 30 most useful phrases from CP (age 6-7) to secondary school, sorted by subject, with what each one helps you remember, then the method for inventing your own and the mistakes that make a memory trick fail. Most of them come from The Big Book of Memory Tricks; the others are classroom classics. All 175 tricks from the primary edition are also free to read online.

🧠 Why a mnemonic phrase stays in your head

The brain is bad at holding a list whose items have nothing to do with each other. The phrase creates that link, through three mechanisms.

1. The acronym: one initial per word

Each word starts with the letter of the item to remember. “Please Always Make Early Meals” gives P-A-M-E-M, the five big periods of history (Prehistory, Ancient times, Middle Ages, Early modern, Modern). The phrase is a thread you pull to unroll the list in order.

2. Rhyme and rhythm

What can be sung can be remembered. “Thirty days has September, April, June and November” holds together through its beat, like a nursery rhyme.

3. The absurd picture

The sillier the scene, the deeper it prints. A king dying on a Monday while drinking chocolate milk, a Moon that lies to you: laughter marks the memory better than a neutral rule.

📋 The 12 essential mnemonic phrases

If you could only keep twelve, here are the ones that get used the most. Each is explained further down.

🪐 Planets mnemonic: the 8 planets in order

From the closest to the Sun to the farthest: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, then Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Two phrases for two uses.

1. The phrase from the primary edition: “My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming”

Eight words, eight initials, in order. The two Ms (My, Method) come in that order, like Mercury before Mars. The book adds three landmarks: Jupiter the biggest, Mercury the smallest, Earth the only one we can live on. Many families also know “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos”: same order, choose one and stick to it.

2. The nine-word phrase: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas”

The final P is Pluto. On 24 August 2006, the International Astronomical Union reclassified it as a dwarf planet, with Ceres and Eris; Makemake and Haumea joined them in 2008. If your own childhood phrase ended with pizzas, keep it for the anecdote.

All the primary-school phrases are illustrated in the CP-CM2 edition:

PAPERBACK · CP → CM2

The Big Book of Memory Tricks — Primary (CP–CM2)

175 illustrated memory tricks for the whole primary-school curriculum.

• 106 colour pages, one trick per card
• Maths, spelling, grammar, geography, history, science and everyday life, plus 91 exercises with answers
• Free delivery in France, €5 elsewhere

€24.99 See the book →

PDF TO PRINT · CP → CM2

The Big Book of Memory Tricks — PDF

The same content, to print at home tonight.

• Illustrated by Bibou the owl
• The same 175 tricks as the paperback, 107 pages
• Instant download

€9.99 See the PDF →

⚗️ Periodic table mnemonic: the first two rows

The periodic table sorts the 118 known elements into 7 rows (the periods) and 18 columns (the groups). At school, only the first rows are expected: one phrase per row is enough. These two are secondary-school classics, well beyond the primary edition.

1. Rows 1 and 2: Happy (H) Henry (He) Likes (Li) Beer (Be) But (B) Could (C) Not (N) Obtain (O) Food (F) Nearby (Ne)

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, then nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon. Trap: the N of “Not” is nitrogen, not neon, which arrives with “Nearby”.

2. Row 3: Naughty (Na) Magpies (Mg) Always (Al) Sing (Si) Perfect (P) Songs (S) Clearly (Cl) Around (Ar)

Sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, then phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, argon. Say it while writing the symbols, not the names: the test asks for Cl, not chlorine.

✍️ Spelling: their/there, to/too/two and “i before e”

Three tricks you can still hear in the playground, which settle three of the most frequent mistakes from CE1 to CM2.

1. their, there or they’re?

Three words that sound exactly the same. Look inside them: tHEIR = the heir owns it · tHERE = here and there · THEY’RE = they are. Try saying “they are”: if the sentence still works, it’s they’re. Can you point at it? Then it’s there. Otherwise, it’s their.

2. to, too or two?

TWO twins · TOO much · TO go. Two has a w like twins and twice; too has too many o’s, so it means “also” or “more than enough”; to is the little one that goes somewhere.

3. i before e, except after c

When you hear the sound “ee”, it is usually ie: believe, field, chief, piece. After a c, it flips: receive, ceiling. The rebels (weird, seize, their) have their own trick in the book.

For your/you’re, its/it’s, where/were/we’re and the other pairs, see the spelling chapter of the 175 tricks, subject by subject.

🔤 Grammar: four phrases against the classic mistakes

Four mistakes that run through the whole of primary school, and the phrase that stops them.

1. The magic -s of he, she, it

In the present, one person or thing takes an -s. He plays, she works, it rains. Think of the s as a little hiss for one single person: “he play-sss”. Two or more? No hiss.

2. One was, the rest were

was or were? I was, he was, she was, it was… and everyone else were: you were, we were, they were.

3. One boss, one -s

The subject bosses the verb. Either on the noun or on the verb, never both: the dog barks, the dogs bark.

4. a or an? Listen to the sound

An before a vowel sound, a before a consonant sound. It is about the sound, not the letter: an apple, an hour, a university. Say it fast: “a apple” is hard to say; the n is just there to help your mouth.

🏛️ History and geography: timelines, kings and compass points

Six phrases for the timeline, the kings and the map.

1. Please Always Make Early Meals

The five big periods of history. Prehistory, Ancient times, Middle Ages, Early modern times, Modern times.

2. No Plan Till Sunday, Henry Wins

The royal houses of England since 1066. Normans, Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, Hanoverians, Windsors. And for Henry VIII’s six wives: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.

3. I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk

The order of the Roman numerals. I, V, X, L, C, D, M. A small letter in front of a bigger one is taken away: IV = 4. After it, it is added: VI = 6.

4. Cover the last two digits, then add 1

Reading a century from a date. 1815: cover 15, keep 18, add 1: the 19th century. Only exception: the years ending in 00. 1800 stays in the 18th century.

5. Never Eat Shredded Wheat

The four compass points. North, East, South, West, clockwise from the top of the map. Bonus: West and East read left to right on the map spell “WE”.

6. Seven Thirsty Travellers Go Walking Together

The longest rivers of the UK. Severn, Thames, Trent, Great Ouse, Wye, Tay. The Severn is the longest (354 km), just ahead of the Thames (346 km), which flows through London.

📐 Maths: units, order of operations and trigonometry

Five landmarks, from CM1 (age 9-10) to secondary school.

1. King Henry Died Monday Drinking Chocolate Milk

The units of length, from km to mm. km, hm, dam, m, dm, cm, mm. One step to the right is times 10.

2. 5, 6, 7, 8 → 56 = 7 × 8

The most forgotten result in the times tables. The digits 5, 6, 7, 8 follow each other: 56 is seven times eight. See our printable times tables.

3. BODMAS: Brackets, Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction

Which order do I calculate in? Brackets always win: (3 + 4) × 2 = 7 × 2 = 14, but 3 + 4 × 2 = 11.

4. Five or more, raise the score. Four or less, let it rest.

Rounding a number. Look at the digit just after the one you keep: 47 rounds to 50, 43 rounds to 40.

5. SOH · CAH · TOA

Sine, cosine, tangent (secondary school). Sine is the opposite over the hypotenuse; cosine, the adjacent over the hypotenuse; tangent, the opposite over the adjacent.

🔬 Science: from the rainbow to the water cycle

Six phrases from CE2 (age 8-9) upwards, from the rainbow to the classification of living things.

1. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain

The seven colours of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, from the top down.

2. The Moon spells DOC: D, O, C

Reading the phases of the Moon (northern hemisphere). D for the waxing Moon (right side lit), O for the full Moon, C for the waning Moon (left side lit). Look at the shape, read the letter, and you know whether the Moon is growing or shrinking.

3. Camel or dromedary? Count the humps

Lay the first letter on its side. A D on its side has one hump: the Dromedary. A B on its side has two humps: the Bactrian camel.

4. King Philip Came Over For Good Soup

Sorting all living things. Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, from the biggest box to the smallest.

5. Many Birds Fly Round Africa

The five groups of vertebrates. Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians. The whale and the dolphin are mammals, not fish.

6. Evaporation · Condensation · Precipitation · Collection

The journey of water. Water travels in a loop, always the same one: it evaporates, condenses into clouds, falls as rain, collects in rivers and seas, and starts again.

🎵 Music and art: notes, lines and colours

Three phrases for the music lesson and one for the art lesson.

1. Every Good Boy Deserves Football

The lines of the stave. From bottom to top, the notes on the five lines are E, G, B, D, F.

2. F A C E

The notes in the spaces. The four spaces between the lines, from bottom to top, spell a word. Lines plus spaces give you every note on the stave.

3. Cats Don’t Eat Fish, Goats Always Bark

The 7 musical notes. In English, notes have letter names: C D E F G A B. Then it starts again at C, one octave higher.

4. Red, Yellow, Blue: the three that make the rest for you

The 3 primary colours. Mix two of them and you get orange, green or purple; mix all three and you get brown.

🧭 Everyday life and general knowledge

The phrases everyone knows, and which the primary edition files under “Everyday tricks”.

1. Thirty days has September, April, June and November

The four 30-day months. All the rest have 31, except February, which has 28 (29 in a leap year).

2. The months on your knuckles

Knuckle = 31 days, dip = 30. Make two fists side by side: count January on the first knuckle, February in the dip, and so on. July and August are both on knuckles: 31 and 31.

3. PORT and LEFT both have four letters

Port and starboard on a boat. Port is left, starboard is right, looking forward. Port wine is red, and the port light on a boat is red too; starboard is green.

4. StalaCtites hold on Tight to the Ceiling; stalaGmites Might reach it from the Ground

The c of Ceiling, the g of Ground. The stalactite hangs from the roof of the cave, the stalagmite grows up from the floor.

5. The 9 times table on your fingers

Fold down the finger of the number you multiply. Both hands flat, fingers numbered 1 to 10 from left to right. For 9 × 3, fold the third finger: 2 fingers on the left (the tens), 7 on the right (the ones): 27.

🛠️ How to invent your own mnemonic phrase

When a lesson will not go in, the best phrase is the one your child makes up themselves.

1. Write the list in the exact order

The phrase follows the list, never the other way round. A wrong phrase is learnt just as well as a right one.

2. Take the initials, or the first two letters

Two letters when two items share an initial, like Mercury and Mars.

3. Look for words that make a scene

A character, an action, a place. The more personal it is, the better it holds.

4. Say the phrase in one breath, then draw it

Too long for one breath, too long for the memory.

5. Test it cold, three times

The same evening, the next day, a week later. If the phrase comes back but not the list, the explanation is what is missing.

⚠️ The mistakes that make a memory trick fail

1. Learning the phrase without knowing what it hides

This is mistake number one. The child recites Richard Of York perfectly, but no longer knows whether the I stands for indigo or ivory. Ask for the list, not the phrase.

2. Piling up several phrases for the same list

One phrase per list, chosen once and for all. Two planet phrases get mixed up.

3. Keeping an out-of-date phrase

Knowledge changes, phrases stay. The nine-planet phrase is the best-known example.

4. Believing the phrase replaces understanding

SOH CAH TOA does not say what a sine is. The phrase is there to find a formula quickly once it has been understood.

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