Joanna Clancy                                                                    David Clancy

How Times Table Plates and 'theMultiples' started

Jo is a Montessori teacher, having taught for 5 years in London Schools and 12 years at a famous prep school in Sussex, where one evening in late 2011, she came home with a Christmas present for Katie, her daughter: a wonderfully plump robin in the middle of a plate, with a few more robins around its edge. David thought it was brilliant and said “it's the one times table”. They googled to see if anyone in the world had created Times Table Plates before, and there was nothing, and so Times Table Plates and theMultiples were born!

They set about creating and painting 12 new characters, each of whom would love one of the numbers from one to twelve and present their Times Table number on a plate. David wanted to give the characters names and characters to underpin a series of quirky stories in interactive eBooks to engage kids by telling the tale of what happens when each of the characters - and their numbers – meet each other. Each story being designed to help families to chat around numbers in the same was that they read and chat about books, and therefore to become comfortable with numbers - and maths! - by mastering their Times Tables! 

It works! Lots of parents and schools have told us so! 6 years later and some children who have grown up with Times Table Plates at mealtimes are now top of their class in Maths!

The History >

First Drafts  Having pottered around with a few ideas, Jo and David decided they wanted a more homogenous set of characters, with slightly eccentric personalities, a bit like this cow that Jo painted:

                             
       Jo's character sketch                              David's First Times Table plate
     for Madame Two Moos

After a while Jo and David decided their art skills were not up to the task and they decided to ask a wonderful friend, Des Suttie, who worked with Jo at school, to paint the 12 farm animals for them. They then handed over the new faces with the new character profiles to the AppleAgency.co.uk and worked with them to create the full form characters that you see at the top of this page.

Meanwhile, Jo's son Jack who is took his A levels this summer, came up with the collective name for the 12 animals – and so 'theMultiples' were born.

Professor One Hoot, Madame Two Moos, Sister Three Baas, Rooster Four Hoots, Porky Five Bellies, Monsieur Six-y, Tiny Seven Squeeks, Bugsy Eight Hops, Duke Nine Bills, Goatee Ten Beards, Inspector Eleven, Lord Twelve Tales.

David and Joanna Clancy 

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