You may have started using Montessori golden beads and are looking for the next step. Look no further, you have come to the right place! 

Adding number cards is a great way to segue into written numbers.

Lesson 1:

  1. Start with a unit and place the number one “This is how 1 unit is written”
  2. Show a ten-bar and the number 10 “This is ten”
  3. Show a hundred-square and the number 100 “This is one hundred”
  4. Show a thousand cube and the number 1000 “This is one thousand”
  5. Have your student show you each relationship to see if they understand

Lesson 2:

  1. On your mat, stack and count out the cards 1-9 as you count the units “One unit, two units, three units….” when you get to 10, you say “there are no more units, next would be 10 units, or 10”. Lay the 10 card to the left of the units
  2. Stack and count out the tens “One ten, two tens, three tens, four tens….” until you get to the end “there are no more tens, next would be ten tens or one hundred” Place the hundred card to the left of the tens. 
  3. Stack and count out the hundreds “One hundred, two hundreds, three hundreds, four hundreds….” until you get to the end “there are no more hundreds, next would be ten hundreds or one thousand” Place the thousand card to the left of the hundreds. 

Lesson 3:

  1. Set up all the golden beads in one place.
  2. Give your student a tray with a number card on it. Have your student get the golden beads to match the number card (Start simple, with one card to find beads to match).
  3. Give your student more complicated number combinations as you play.
  4. When you count out the beads to match the cards, show how to superimpose the number cards (1000, 200, 30, 4 becomes 1234)
  5. Take turns counting and superimposing the number cards
  6. Have your students create challenges for each other!

I hope if you were having trouble diving into using golden beads that this gives you a bit of clarity or inspiration for your next steps!

I am not a Montessori Teacher, this is how we used our golden beads at home. If you have any suggestions to add to our lessons, please do so in the comments below!

As always, happy homeschooling!

<3 aer