This paper contains an analysis of some early thinking of 94 young children aged 5 years 7 months to 6 years 5 months. These children were interviewed as part of a larger study of the multiplicative thinking of children who were midway through their first year of school in Australia. They had not been formally taught multiplication or division at school. Three task-based interview questions were posed using partitive contexts. The children attempted to solve 12 ÷ 3, 7 ÷ 2 and 22 ÷ 4. An analysis of the responses of these children reveals many children can solve division problems even when the numbers get larger and where the divisor is not a factor of the dividend.