In this article, the author describes her attempt to develop more interactive mental mathematics sessions. She observed that her students perceive the multiplication tables as a series of facts which are either known or not known, not as tools which could be used to derive other facts in a flexible manner. She therefore undertook the task of extending the children's use of the tables beyond passive recitation -- either the fact is known or it isn't -- to active reasoning. She divided her math class into group A, which was given the adapted mental maths sessions and group B, which would informally test their ability to work out, as a group, the three tables they had not yet come across. This would provide an indication of how far each group could move from passive recall of tables facts towards active use of the facts in problem solving. The author based her study on Mike Askew's suggestions in his chapter "Developing Mental Methods of Computation" for improving mental maths sessions in order to engage children more fully as learners, and also emphasizes the importance of teaching rapid recall methods alongside calculation methods. This helped move the author's study away from the recitation versus calculation debate. Problem-based mental maths sessions were therefore used for group A to develop the children's role as active learners. In the final two mental maths sessions, both groups answered rapid recall questions on the tables they had memorised, and both groups worked out the seven, eight and nine times tables as a group, through discussion. The differences in how both groups approached the tasks were striking. Out of 50 rapid recall questions, the children in group A answered 48 correctly, with only a few short hesitations, while the children in group B answered 31 correctly, with more frequent and much longer hesitations. Group A's confidence to try new problems involving tables significantly increased. Her findings have important implications for how she teaches mental maths sessions involving tables, placing more emphasis on process rather than product. The emphasis on process has important implications for children's willingness to "give tasks a go" and therefore to become more active learners. (Contains 2 notes.)