Making Montessori Bead Bars at Home

One of our awesome parents has made beautiful homemade Montessori beads:

I checked out a couple of blogs as well to get an idea of how to do it and what materials I wanted to use. This is a blog that found really helpful:

https://www.imagineourlife.com/2013/07/31/diy-montessori-math-beads/.

I decided to use pony beads instead of the traditional glass beads because they were much cheaper on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PLVH8B5/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_wltXEbEEWC9S1

(although the shape makes it harder to make the 100 bead square and 1000 bead cube with the correct proportions)

I had the 14 gauge wire https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IUJ4TCM/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_CotXEb8ENRZRS (this is only enough wire for 1-10 and 9 more 10 bead bars if you measure properly which sometimes requires some trial and error) at home for some jewelry projects I have worked on in the past as well as the pliers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XZUCLE/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_TrtXEbW9T12FQ to shape and cut the wire but they can also be purchased through Amazon, Micheals and Joanne Fabrics online. The bead bars with the least amount of beads are the hardest to shape with the pliers, but I started with the one bar and measured each bar a little longer than the last as I increased the number of beads. It also helps to curl the end of the wire before you cut the piece you are using for a bar. After cutting the wire about an inch longer than the bead or beads I was using, I placed the bead or beads on and curled the end to finish off the bead bar. It is better to give yourself more space rather than cut the wire too short, but if you cut it too short, you can just use it for a bead bar with less beads. As I mentioned earlier, I went through some trail and error with this process. It takes a little more time, but if you enjoy making things and want to save some money on bead bars I recommend making them at home. It took me no more than 10 minutes to make each bead bar and after I got the hang of it it took even less time. I just used some time before everyone was awake to work on these and this also helped me practice mindfulness. Giving myself intentional time to focus on one activity really helps me to set myself up for success for the day. After making these I felt proud of myself, a sense of peace and Iwas excited to share them with S. He had a lot of fun working with bead bars. We keep them in a little ziplock bag and try to use them for as much of the counting work as we can. I hope someone else finds this helpful.

By M.