Preschoolers often count on their fingers to solve simple arithmetic problems involving addition and subtraction. Some teachers consider this a sign that their young students are having difficulty with math, but others see it as a helpful method.

A recent European study was designed to prove just how beneficial finger counting is and whether training kids to count on their fingers can increase their proficiency in math. Its purpose was practical: does it help or hinder kids when they use their fingers to find the answer to simple arithmetic problems?

Primary school teachers wondered whether they should encourage or discourage children from using their fingers to solve calculations.

“The idea originated from conversations with primary school teachers. They often asked me whether they should encourage or discourage children from using their fingers to solve calculations,” researcher Catherine Thevenot said in an interview.

The results of the study show that yes, children should be encouraged to use their fingers to do simple calculations.

Nearly 330 five- and six-year-old kindergarteners took part in the study. The children were mostly white Europeans living in France and were recruited through their teachers who also volunteered to participate in the experiment.

The children were given a pre-test, a 2-week training period and a post-test that they took after the training was completed.

Children who did not originally count on their fingers, but were trained to do so, showed an impressive increase in the performance pre- and post-test. Their correct responses more than doubled, jumping from 33 percent to 77 percent.

Children in the control group who were not taught to use their fingers saw an improvement increase from 40 percent to 48 percent.

“Our study demonstrates that finger calculation training is effective for over 75 percent of kindergartners,” said Thevenot, a faculty member at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. “The next step is to explore how we can support the remaining 25 percent of children who didn't respond as well to the intervention.”

As a next step, Thevenot and her colleagues want to find out whether a finger-counting intervention leads to a deeper conceptual understanding of numbers — if children can better grasp how to manipulate the quantities that are represented by their fingers.

It's easy to develop math skills at home and bring finger-counting into everyday conversations with young children. Stanford University's Development and Research in Early Mathematics Education (DREME) offers these suggestions:

  • Any time you say a number word, pair it with a number gesture. When you count out loud to your child or label a set size with a number word, demonstrate with your fingers as well. Parents who use more number gestures have children who use more number gestures.
  • Bolster the connection between gestures and words by encouraging your child to use both. For example: “Show me with your fingers how many crackers you have. Now tell me how many crackers you have.”
  • Encourage children to represent numbers in whatever way is comfortable for them. Some children struggle to arrange their fingers in specific ways; for example, three and four are particularly tricky. Young children could instead represent three in an unconventional way, such as raising one finger on the left hand and two fingers on the right. You can play games asking your child how else they could show three fingers.
  • Make a game of counting together. Have your child be the verbal counter and you be the finger counter. As you raise each of your fingers, your child says the corresponding number word. Take turns in each counting role.
  • Improve finger sense by doing finger-based activities. Use stickers or markers to put a colored dot on each of your child's fingernails.

The study is published in Child Development.