Why Do We Use ‘Fingers’ to Count?

We use our fingers to count because they're right there, ready to help. When you were little, counting on your fingers was like having a calculator in your hand! Fingers are natural tools for counting, and it's easy to see how people started using them a long time ago. It’s fun and fast, just hold up one finger for 1, two fingers for 2, and so on until you get to 10, which is all the fingers on both hands!

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Examples

  1. You hold up 3 fingers to show you have 3 cookies.
  2. If you want to add 2 more, you raise another 2 fingers, now you’ve got 5!
  3. Counting on your fingers helps you know how many toys are in your toy box.

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