According to Wikipedia:
An abacus, also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool used primarily in parts of Asia for performing math processes. Today, abacuses are often constructed as a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires, but originally they were beans or stones moved in grooves in sand or on tablets of wood, stone, or metal. The abacus was in use centuries before the adoption of the written modern numeral system and is still widely used by merchants, traders and clerks in Asia, Africa and elsewhere.
Here in the US, many parents love to teach their young children math using the abacus, a visual calculator that helps children visualize addition, subtraction, counting by 10's, patterning, and other skills. You can also find abacuses in many preschools, elementary schools, and dentists' offices.
If you'd like to get your child an abacus, this is a good one:
Children's Abacus by Melissa and Doug
and some interesting books about the abacus:
The Abacus: The World's First Computing System Bonus abacus included
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