ABACUS MATH

We made our own abacus out of beads, skewers (like for kabobs), and my husband built a little frame to put it all together. The kids had fun sorting beads with me – into groups of five. Two different colors on each row make it possible to easily count by fives and makes other adding (or subtracting) equations easier. This has been a great hands on and visual resource for teaching math. Instead of having a bunch of loose things for counting, the abacus keeps all the beads together in one spot, so none are lost, and none end up in the baby's mouth. *

Some Ideas for Using the Abacus to Teach Basic Math

• Counting, by ones, fives, tens – the different colored beads and the rows make this easy and good for hands on and visual learning
• Adding and subtracting. When doing subtraction flashcards, the beads make a nice to visual to help solve the problem, especially for higher numbers. It is teaching the subtraction concept in a hands on and visual manner.
• Multiplication, although we haven't gotten there yet.
• Place value. For example, move over 34 beads – that is 3 rows of tens and 4 extra. We look at the amount visually and then talk about how to write that number. Or I write a number and we then move over that many beads.
• The color separation on each row I think also teaches and reinforces simple addition and subtraction. That five red beads plus two green beads equal seven beads. With some practice, children will automatically recognize that combination 2+5=7 without actually having to count every bead. It aids in the process of memorizing these math facts.

There are, I'm sure, many more uses for these colorful beads, but we haven't progressed that far yet.

* NOTE: Our first attempt at making this abacus was not so successful. My husband had drilled holes to stick the skewers through, but there wasn't anything holding them in place. When the kids pushed the beads across too hard, the beads went flying. This was fixed with some hot glue!