Finger Counting in Early Childhood Linked to Stronger Math Skills Later On
Finger counting is something almost every child does at some point, but a new long-term study from Switzerland shows just how important this early habit might be. Researchers followed children for three years, tracking how often they used their fingers to solve addition problems and how this related to their later math performance. The results make one thing clear: children who use their fingers between ages 4 and 6.5 tend to become better at addition by age 7 than children who never counted on their fingers. And those who used their fingers early but eventually stopped became the strongest performers of all.
This friendly, curious breakdown walks through everything the study uncovered, why it matters, and what finger counting does for the developing brain.
What the Researchers Wanted to Understand
Although finger counting is common in preschool and early elementary years, many teachers encourage children to abandon the strategy very early, believing that continuing to rely on fingers signals weak numerical understanding. Some teachers even see finger counting as something that holds kids back from developing more abstract arithmetic skills.
But psychologists have long debated this. Earlier research found that finger counters tend to perform well in math up until about age 7, after which children who aren’t using their fingers appear to perform better. What was never clear, though, was whether those high-performing non-finger counters had never used their fingers at all, or whether they were children who transitioned away from the habit naturally.
To settle this, researchers Catherine Thevenot and Marie Krenger tracked 211 Swiss children from ages 4.5 to 7.5, monitoring their finger-counting habits and math performance over time. Their goal was to understand how finger-counting history—not just finger use at a single moment—shapes later arithmetic skills.
How the Study Was Conducted
The researchers met with each child twice a year across the three-year span. During each session, the children were given up to three sets of addition problems, each set more difficult than the last:
- Easy: two digits between 1 and 5
- Medium: one digit between 1 and 5 added to a digit between 6 and 9
- Hard: two digits between 6 and 9
If a child answered at least 80% of the problems in one difficulty level correctly, the researchers moved them on to the next. Each session was videotaped so the researchers could observe exactly how the children solved their problems—specifically, whether they used their fingers or not.
This setup allowed the team to categorize each child as a:
- Current finger counter
- Former finger counter
- Never finger counter
and to track how these categories changed over time.
What the Researchers Found
The study revealed several detailed insights about how finger counting develops and how it relates to math skills.
Finger Counting Peaks Around Ages 5.5 to 6.5
In the early testing years—around age 5—more children solved problems without using their fingers. But by age 6.5, a striking 92% of the children had used their fingers at some point during testing. Finger counting wasn’t something just a few kids relied on; almost all children used the strategy at least once.
By Age 7.5, Children Fall Into Three Groups
When the children reached the end of the study, their finger-use histories looked like this:
- 50% were current finger counters
- 43% were ex-finger counters—they used to count on their fingers but no longer needed to
- 7% had never counted on their fingers at all
This breakdown is important because it shows that almost every child naturally experiments with finger counting at some point. The tiny group who never used their fingers is the exception, not the norm.
Former Finger Counters Perform the Best
From age 6 onward, one group consistently pulled ahead: children who used to use their fingers but no longer did.
These children outperformed both:
- current finger counters
- and children who never used their fingers
This suggests that using fingers early, then moving on to mental strategies, is linked to the strongest math performance.
It also suggests that discouraging finger use too early—before a child naturally transitions away from it—may interfere with healthy numerical development.
What This Means for How Children Learn Math
The results of this study challenge a long-held classroom belief: that finger counting is a sign of weak mathematical understanding. Instead, finger counting appears to be an important developmental tool that supports the transition to more abstract arithmetic.
A Natural Bridge to Mental Math
Children first need to understand numbers in a physical, concrete way. Fingers provide a built-in, easy-to-access system for representing quantity. For a young brain trying to grasp what “four” actually means, holding up four fingers gives a direct sensory connection to the idea.
Over time, as children use their fingers regularly, they build internal number representations. Once these representations become strong enough, they naturally stop relying on their hands and shift to mental calculation.
No Evidence That Finger Counting Creates Dependency
A big worry among teachers is that children who count on their fingers will become dependent on the strategy. But the study found no such risk. Instead:
- Children almost always stop using fingers on their own.
- The ones who used fingers earlier but moved on ended up doing the best.
- Not using fingers early didn’t give any performance advantage—in fact, it was linked to lower performance compared to former finger counters.
Encouraging Finger Use May Actually Improve Long-Term Outcomes
Since former finger counters performed best in the long run, it makes sense to allow finger counting in early education rather than suppress it. The study suggests that early finger use lays important groundwork for the shift to faster, more abstract strategies.
Additional Insights: Why Finger Counting Matters in Child Development
Beyond this specific study, developmental psychology has long recognized that fingers play a surprisingly important role in numerical understanding.
Fingers Help Build Number Sense
Finger movements activate brain regions associated with numerical processing. This means that using fingers isn’t just a physical strategy—it’s neurologically tied to how children learn numbers.
Finger Gnosis (Knowing One’s Fingers) and Math Skills
Research has shown that children who can distinguish their fingers well—known as finger gnosis—tend to perform better in arithmetic tasks. That’s because recognizing fingers individually strengthens the sense of number order and magnitude.
Teaching Finger Strategies Can Boost Math Learning
Some intervention studies have trained children explicitly in fingerprint-based addition strategies. These studies often show significant improvements, especially in children who didn’t naturally use their fingers before.
All of this points to a simple truth: fingers are a built-in learning tool, and children benefit from using them.
The Bottom Line
The research offers a clear message for parents and educators: there is no reason to discourage young children from counting on their fingers. Almost all children use their fingers at some point, and using them early correlates with better performance later—especially when children eventually move beyond finger strategies naturally.
Instead of pushing children to abandon finger counting prematurely, a more supportive approach is to allow the strategy to flourish in early years and fade naturally as children’s internal math skills strengthen.
Research Paper:
The Role of Children’s Finger Counting History on Their Addition Skills
https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002099
