Bead Frames (Small & Large)
Slide beads along color-coded wires to build numbers to 9,999,999 and to add and subtract with real carrying and borrowing exchanges.
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For parents
The bead frame is a Montessori abacus: one bead is worth one, ten, a hundred, or a million depending on its wire, so value comes from position — the key idea behind written arithmetic. Your child slides beads to build numbers, then adds and subtracts place by place, trading ten beads for one when a wire fills, and one for ten when it runs empty. The small frame works to 9,999; the large frame extends the same rules to one million. It is the direct bridge from the stamp game to column arithmetic done entirely on paper.
Lessons for this material
- Introduction to the Small Bead Frame ages 6–8
- Small Bead Frame Addition ages 6–8
- The Large Bead Frame ages 7–10
Printable follow-up work
- Multi-Digit Operations — Vertical addition, subtraction, and multiplication — the pencil-and-paper follow-up to golden bead, stamp game, and bead frame work.
- Place Value & Expanded Form — Stretch numbers into expanded form, compose them back together, and name the value of underlined digits.
- Command Cards — Cut-out task-card decks for the golden beads, stamp game, hundred board, bead frames, fraction circles, and checkerboard — the child draws a card and works independently with the material; the key lets a parent check each card.