I taught my son multiplication using "Memorize in Minutes: the Times Tables" by Walker (Krimsten Publishing). The method is different from traditional table methods. Each multiplication fact has a fun story. For example, 3 is called tree and 7 is called surfin'. The story would be something like this...
A huge tree was tired of standing in the forest all day. He went down to the beach, rented a surfboard and went surfing. The tree was having fun surfing when suddenly it crashed into the sun. The tree was so tall, he had reached all the way to the sun. The tree hit the sun so hard it made dents in the sun. The sun became a denty sun (aka 21).
The book comes with cute story flashcards to illustrate the stories.
This method worked out great for us because my son is very verbal and loves the cute "pun" type nature of the stories (using rythming words for the numbers).
Before I introduced this memorization method, I taught him the foundations of multiplication, so he would understand what multiplication actually is. I think that is important if you use this method.
