Multiplication grids are meant to teach the pattern of factors and products. It is a sheet of paper with a grid pattern on it. The numbers 1 to 9 are on both axis. You can either supply some answers within the grid or leave it entirely blank for the student to fill in. The student will cross reference the products from both sides of the axis and fill in the product where both factors intersect.
Another way to sharpen your multiplication skills is by answering several drills made of 2 to 3 digit factors multiplied by single digit factors. For example, 762 x 3, 250 x 4, 737 x 9, 119 x 8 and 575 x 6 etc. Frequent, easy to solve drills will boost the confidence of the student and test his memory of the multiplication table.
A good way to incorporate the lesson of place value with multiplication drills is by having exercises regarding changing place values with essentially the same digits. For example, perform exercises that multiply the number 6 to 10, 10,000, 1000, 1,000,000 and so on. This will instill the concept to the student that the digits do not really change and it is the place value that changes.
To give the multiplication drills some practicality, include some word problems that deal with several steps of multiplication. For example: A jet plane can travel as fast as 568 miles per hour. If the jet plane travels for 6 hours, how many miles did it cover in total? Another example is: An adult giant panda can consume as much as 138 pounds of bamboo per day. If the adult giant panda eats this much in a week, how much bamboo has it consumed at the end of the week?