Bead Chains: showing the square of a number

What materials do we need for this activity?

For this activity, we need the square chain for the number, A square for the number, The small box of markers for the number, and a felt-lined tray.

Bead Chains: showing the square of a number

How we show children the square of a number using the Bead Chains

This activity shows the square of a number to the child. The directress introduces the square chain of the number.

The directress shows the child where the five-bead chain is kept on the shelf and how to place it on the tray as well as placing the box of markers and one square of five on the tray.

The directress shows the child how to lay the square chain horizontally on the floor mat, she then tells him that they will be making the square of five.

The directress shows the child how to fold the chain into a square by folding the chain from the left to the right each time. She places the square of five above the chain to compare the two. She then unfolds the chain and lays it out again and tells the child that they will be counting how many beads it takes to make the square of five.

She does this by removing the markers from the box and places them face up randomly on the mat, the child may assist her with this. The directress begins to count and places a marker at each bead for the first section. She continues to count but only places a marker at each multiple of five (5, 10, 15, 20, etc)...

Once all the markers have been placed down, the directress skip-counts with the child. When she reaches the end she tells the child “the square of five is five”.

What does the child learn by doing this activity?

This is a wonderful activity to practice rote counting, it helps develop the child’s mathematical mind, it indirectly prepares the child for the multiplication tables as well as this activity gives the knowledge to the child about how to calculate the square of a number in a concrete way.

Looking for more Montessori activities?

Here is a list of all the Montessori Maths activities including Early Maths, Introduction to the Decimal System, Seguin Boards, The Hundred Board, The Short Bead Stair, Bead Chains, The Snake Game, Group Operations, The Large Number Rods, Recording with the Small Number Rods, The Short Bead Stair, The Strip Boards, The Boards, The Stamp Game, The Abacus, The Dot Game, and Fractions. Just click on the page you want to learn about to go there.