I have my kids do extra school work at home and wanted to give them tools to help with their math. I also wanted to reinforce the Montessori counting materials with traditional math hand outs. I was not yet ready to just hand them a calculator.
If you can, rock these fancy bead chains or spend two hours on this method.
What you need:
Print the Large Number Cards on card stock
Print the Number Chain markers on card stock
Be sure to work that Michael’s & Jo-Ann Fabrics App coupons, I spent half as much if I hadn’t.
Follow most of the directions for assembling the montessori beads from this video. I bought an extra bag of brown Pony beads, plus a spool a 20 gauge 10′ gold wire in the jewellery isle at Michael’s along with the variety pack of pony beads. I used a chopstick or pencil to wrap the wire around.
I made 10 chains of each color chain.
red=1, green=2, pink=3, yellow=4, light blue=5, lavender=6,
white=7, brown=8, dark blue=9, gold/bright orange=10
The case: Bought at Jo-Ann Fabric, ARTBin Slim case with moveable dividers.
Cases for Bead chain markers: Bought at Michael’s but Jo-Ann had them too.
I decided later to make an additional set for my home schooling sister and I bought a case and another spool of wire but figured I had enough beads. Well I was so close, I needed 5 more chains of one (dark blue) color so I will return to get this package of pony beads to finish her case.
My kids were so excited. Let me know if this was helpful or if you have any other questions.
About Rebecca
