Material
- Eight sets of beads each containing nine bars. The sets range from bars of two beads to bars of nine beads. These are in separate wooden boxes.
- A selection of sum cards
- a mat.
Presentation
- Give the child a sum card.
- He reads it and collects the relevant box of beads, e.g. the box of nine four bars.
- The child reads each sum taking the required number of bead bars.
- He lays them side-by-side counts them
- He records the answer.
Control of error
The multiplication control chart.
Direct aim
To teach the multiplication tables.
Age of interest
5½ years plus.
The Multiplication Beads
| 1 | x | 4 | = | |
| 2 | x | 4 | = | |
| 3 | x | 4 | = | |
| 4 | x | 4 | = | |
| 5 | x | 4 | = | |
| 6 | x | 4 | = | |
| 7 | x | 4 | = | |
| 8 | x | 4 | = | |
| 9 | x | 4 | = |
Note: Each of these boxes are separate from each other so that the child’s focus stays on the multiplicand used in the sum card. This springs from a general rule within all Montessori materials, namely that all the materials used in a work need to have purpose. For example, if one used a single box with 8 slots, each slot containing 9 bead bars, then most of the slots and bead bars would not have a purpose while completing a particular sum card. Then the child would need to “abstract” from these irrelevant beads, and this is not easy for young mind to do.