Skip-counting by 3s

Here’s how we learned multiplication facts of 3 the easier way.

1.  I assigned one number for each finger of his left hand.  If he skip-counts by 3s, he will get 3-6-9-12-15 consecutively.  Number 3 goes to the pinkie, 6 to the ring finger, 9 to the middle finger, 12 is the pointy finger, and 15 is the thumb.  I made him remember the number in each corresponding finger.

2.  Starting with his fist, he will then raise one finger at a time starting to skip-count with 3 which is the pinkie, continuing to the ring finger 6, 9, 12 until 15.   After this, it’s back to 3 again. I made him do this several times until he finally identified a finger with a number.

To test if he’s gaining, I asked him what 5×3 is.  All he did was doing skip-counting with his fingers until he reached the thumb which is the fifth and is equivalent to 15.  He answered 15.  Correct.  I tested him again by asking 3×4=?  Again, he skip-counted, raising one finger after another until he reached the pointy finger, the 4th and is also equal to 12.  He answered 12.  Correct again.

I thought he was ready.  I made him recite half the multiplication facts of 3 and he did it correctly in less than a minute.  Of course, he’s uses his finger as guide.

3.  Next is the right hand.  He did the same procedure.  This time, the right hand is assigned to skip-count by 3s from 18-21-24-27-30.  18 is the pinkie, 21 is the ring finger, 24 goes to the middle finger, pointy finger is 27 and right thumb is 30.  He again raised one finger after another while skip-counting until he’s counted 30 when he reached the thumb.  He repeated this exercise again until he’s memorized skip-counting from 18 to 30.

Again, I tested him.  When I asked 7×3?  All he needed to do was skip-count from the pinkie which is 18 and stop at 7 which is 21.  The moment he heard himself say 21, he stopped.  Incidentally, 21 also is also the 7th finger.

Makus said out loud “Mommy this is so exciting! Let me recite my multiplication facts of 3 by skip-counting!

And Makus did it without mistakes.  This skip-counting trick made him learn his multiplication facts of 3 in good 15 minutes.