Nifty

I'll show my kids tonight and let you know what they think

Neat. Although it seems like it would be much more complicated for a kid.

One caveat, if one of the resulting numbers is double-digit - the usual carryover needs to occur to get the right answer... I agree - it's not that much easier for a kid and seems like one needs to use paper to do this effectively (certainly multiplication via the old brain in that case appears more efficient), but it's still a cool thing.

I think it's called the Lattice Method...my cousin taught me this just before I got to high school...I've been using it since....