Counting on fingers: How do I get my child to stop counting on her fingers when doing basic addition or multiplication?
You do so by allowing the child to see for herself that the use of fingers is slower than memorizing the facts. This means being able to see how others – siblings, peers, parents, relatives – can calculate so quickly without fingers because they’ve memorized basic facts. This means… use math games! Play Addition War (as described in my booklet “Math Games to Supplement Any Math Curriculum” which is available at my website www.AlgebraForKids.com), so she will see that others get their answers faster without fingers because of memorization. Play Math Dice (also at my website), or Cribbage, or Yahtzee. Put her casually into situations where she will simply experience for herself the reality that fingers actually slow us down. The experience will speak louder than any nagging from Mom or Dad. Finally, be patient – finger-counting is a developmental phase that kids go through. They need to confirm to themselves that 5 + 7 really is 12 every time. Be patient. She’ll move on – if she’s put
