Preschool Multiplication

I was doing my regular mama-taxi-serivce responsibilities when I head my 3.5 year old daughter ask, "What do two threes make?" Astonished, I looked at her holding up her two little hands, each with three fingers pointed up. I asked her to count them, which she did in chorus with her almost-six year old brother, up to six.

Preschool Multiplication

Then she asked me what two fours make, then two fives, and two twos. It was a beautiful thing for me as I listened to her discuss it with her brother and with me. It was her very first exploration (to my knowledge) of multiplication. Just because she wasn't writing her times tables like a third grader is expected to do, doesn't make her learning any less meaningful, or less important. In fact, this type of free play with quantity is important fundamental pre-math learning! And I just wanted to point it out to you...so that when your child asks a similar question, and you answer, that you might think to yourself, "Wow! My preschooler is SO smart. She is doing third-grade math!" because she is.

p.s. Fingers are among your child's first play-things. And look how handy they can be if you only provide the opportunity for your child to "be bored" in the car!