Montessori Mathematics: The Complete Bead Material - Part 3

Nope, I'm not dead yet! It's been too long since my last post, but for me, at least, that time has flown. Between Christmas preparations, having our computer sent away to get fixed, and perpetual exhaustion, fewer things get time and attention, my blog being one of them.

That doesn't mean I've been skipping out on materials making. I've got a fair bit done, and now I have pictures! Here's my work to date:

My first priority was getting the bead bars ready so we could learn the snake game and do various additions and subtractions up to ten. Then it was getting one copy for each number of the squares and cubes (of course, I needed more than one ten square - I needed ten in order to continue with the golden bead material). My eight, nine, and ten cubes are not yet completed, but eight and ten are coming along quickly. And my short (square) and long (cubing) chains are just barely beginning. We won't need those for a little while though.

As you can see, I've been using the plastic canvas to steady the cubes and squares. Take my advice: when beginning a cube, start in the MIDDLE and spiral your way out. The first one I tried I began at the corner and that was a mess!

Also, for the long and short chains, you'd be wise to pick up some jump rings or split rings (they're in the jewelry making/beading section of any craft store among the other findings). I tried making them myself, but it's very difficult and time-consuming. If you buy the rings, you can simply make a bunch of bead bars and then link them together. Otherwise there's a bunch of fussing and fidgeting to get bead bars attached.

I'm sure that many of you have anticipated this: as I am having (soon!) two baby boys, my life is about to become much more complex. My plans as far as the blog goes are to leave it up, post when I can, and try to update the blog as materials are made and as pictures are taken. Perhaps as the boys age I will get to post more often, but better a little than none!