The Snake Game: changing using the black and white stair

What materials do we need for this activity?

For this activity we need The box containing two sets of short bead stairs, A Black and White stair, A marker to count with, A carved card to mark your place, A box containing 9 ten-bead bars, and two pieces of felt.

The Snake Game: changing using the black and white stair

How this activity is presented

The directress begins by laying out one piece of felt on the mat and the other piece of felt on the top left-hand side of the mat. She then shows the child how to build the Black and White Stair on the felt at the top left-hand side of the mat, she ensures that the white beads are on the right. She places the box containing the 9 ten-bead bars and the box containing the colourful beads to the right of the Black and White Stair.

The child assists the directress in building a colourful snake with the Short Bead Stairs, She makes sure to use all of the coloured beads. She begins to count the coloured beads and stops at the tenth one, she places a marker once she gets to ten. She makes sure to show the child that once you reach ten and it is the middle of the bead, then the carved card should be placed over the beads to mark your place.

The directress exchanges the quantities of ten for a golden ten-bead bar. She places the ten-bead bar above the colourful beads, she shows the child how to count the remaining beads on the bead bar from the carved card to the end of the bar.

She places the appropriate black and white bar for that quantity next to the golden ten-bead bar, replaces the coloured beads, and lays them out in the correct order vertically at the bottom of the mat. She continues counting the black and white beads in the same manner, stopping at 10 and changing the coloured beads for golden beads and replace the black and white beads for any beads left over. The directress reminds the child that the coloured beads are always placed at the bottom of the mat and the black and white beads are replaced in the stair. She continues in the same manner until the coloured snake has been changed into a golden snake.

The directress asks the child to count how many beads there are in the golden snake (10, 20, 30, etc) She then shows the child how to check if the two snakes match, she does this by placing one ten-bead bar vertically next to the coloured beads at the bottom of the mat, for example, place one ten-bead bar next to the seven-bead bar and the three-bead bar to show the child that seven and three make ten. The child can continue matching the snakes if he grasped the concept fully and the directress assists him in packing the work away correctly once he has finished.

What does the child learn by doing this activity?

This activity is great for linear counting to ten, it is the repetition of the number bonds of ten, it reinforces the exchanging process, and it prepares the child for addition that will come later on.

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.