Times - The best way to talk about multiplication to young children.
As adults, we know that multiplication is the short way to find the result of adding a number to itself a multiple of times. But this is just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to preschool age children (and sadly also to too many older children and adults too.).
If you ask your average four year old what two multiplied by four is, he/she will likely look at you like you are from the moon. So you use the word "times". Ask the same child what two times four is, and again he/she will look at you like you are from the moon! With this wording, it doesn't matter what you call it, the child won't get it.
However, if you ask the child what two four times is, you both can get somewhere. They don't know the answer off the top of their head, but now they know how to figure it out. It means something to them. Children can visualize four pairs of dots (or M&Ms or quarters or socks depending on what motivates them), and they can add them together a certain number of times. This is language that young children can understand.
Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate?! Rhombus Club!
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