Schulte Table Online for Kids — Free Attention Trainer

Find the numbers from 1 upward as fast as you can. Press Start: the numbers appear and the timer begins.

What is a Schulte table?

A Schulte table is a grid of numbers in random order. The task is simple: find the numbers from 1 upward as fast as you can. The classic version is a 5 × 5 grid with the numbers 1 to 25. It is a short exercise in visual search and in keeping your attention on one thing for a minute or two.

The Schulte table is also a classic attention exercise used in Shamil Ahmadullin’s methods.

Where the Schulte table comes from

The table carries the name of a German researcher, Schulte. Most sources today credit Walter Schulte (1910–1972), a German psychiatrist who worked as a professor in Tübingen. We could not find his original description of the test, though, so treat the exact origin story as uncertain.

What is well documented is how the table has been used. It became a standard attention test in Russian clinical psychology and is still described in university textbooks and clinical guidelines there. In the clinical version, an adult points to each number on a paper table and says it aloud while a psychologist times several tables in a row. Later the tables spread to speed-reading courses, brain-training apps and websites like this one.

How to use the Schulte table with your child

Pick a size (see the table below). If in doubt, start smaller.
Explain the rule. “Find 1, then 2, then 3, and tap each one. If you tap the wrong number, it flashes. Just keep looking.”
Press Start. The numbers appear and the timer starts at the same moment, as with a paper table. It stops at the last number. Wrong taps are counted as mistakes.
Do two or three tables in a row, then stop. The whole session takes a few minutes.
Note the best time. The tool remembers the best time for each size in this browser. If several children share a device, keep a paper log with names instead.
Move up a size when your child finishes the current one easily and without many wrong taps.

The focus dot is optional: your child keeps their eyes on the dot in the center and tries to find numbers with their side (peripheral) vision. Turn the dot on if your child enjoys that extra challenge. We don’t know of good evidence that it widens peripheral vision or speeds up reading.

Which size to choose

These are practical starting points, not age norms. Children of the same age vary a lot.

Size	Numbers	A good fit for
3 × 3	1–9	Preschoolers who know their numbers to 9, or a first try
4 × 4	1–16	Younger school-age children, or a warm-up
5 × 5	1–25	The classic size, for most school-age children and adults
6 × 6	1–36	Older children who find 5 × 5 easy
7 × 7	1–49	A long challenge for confident older children and adults

Schulte table benefits: what it can and can’t do

What it can do. It gives your child a short, clear task with a visible result. It is a quick way to practice staying on one task for a minute or two, and most children like beating their own time. Times usually drop with practice: research on training consistently finds that people get better at the specific task they practice.

What hasn’t been shown. Many websites say Schulte tables boost reading speed, memory or peripheral vision. We did not find controlled studies showing that Schulte table practice makes children read faster. More broadly, large reviews of brain-training research find that improvements mostly stay with the trained task and carry over to other skills much less, if at all. A faster time means your child has become better at Schulte tables. That is a real achievement, but it is not proof of better focus in class.

It is not a test of your child. Psychologists use the table as one tool among many, under standard conditions. A slow time at home doesn’t mean something is wrong.

Average time for a 5 × 5 Schulte table

Parents often ask what a normal time is. We have not found reliable norms for children, and none at all for tapping on a screen. Russian clinical manuals give figures meant for adults: healthy adults are expected to finish each paper 5 × 5 table in under about 50 seconds while pointing to and naming every number aloud. That procedure is different from tapping, so these figures don’t tell you what is normal for a 7-year-old on a tablet.

Our suggestion: compare your child only with themselves. Record the time for a week or two and look at the trend, not at single days.

The red-black Gorbov–Schulte table

A harder version, named after Soviet psychologist Fyodor Gorbov, uses black and red numbers in one grid. The person first finds the black numbers counting up, then the red numbers counting down, and finally alternates between the two: black 1, the highest red number, black 2, and so on. Psychologists use it to look at how well someone switches attention between two tasks. It can be a next step for older children who find the classic table easy. Our tool offers the classic version.

Printable Schulte tables: tips

Choose a size, then press “Print 4 tables.” You get four different tables on one page.
Print a few pages, pressing the button once per page. Each press makes four new tables, while extra copies set in the print dialog repeat the same ones. A table your child has already done gets easier simply because they remember where the numbers are.
On paper, use a finger or a pencil. Your child points to each number and says it aloud while you time them with a phone stopwatch.
Use smaller grids for young children. A 3 × 3 or 4 × 4 table prints with bigger cells that are easier to read.
Write the date and time on each sheet so you can see progress over the weeks.
Keep a sheet in your bag for waiting rooms and long car rides.

Schulte table online