Golden Beads
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Description
The Golden Beads are the material most essential for teaching the decimal system to children in Montessori schools. It consists of unit beads which are just individual beads, ten bars which are short lengths of wire strung with ten beads, hundred squares which are made of 10 ten bars wired together to make a square, and thousand cubes which are made by wiring together 10 hundred squares.
Hundred squares and thousand cubes take a long time to make and can be rather expensive, so when doing activities that use a lot of hundreds and thousands, wooden representations of hundreds and thousands are used in the place of the beaded kind.
Make Your Own
Unit Bead
The least expensive unit beads available from the vendors below are a little less than a penny a piece.
The beads should be between 6 and 7.5 millimeters in diameter. They should be as spherical as possible so that they are equally wide as long.
6mm Round Gold Plastic Beads
- Bedazzlinbeads $6.99/950 (0.736¢)
- Craft Kits and Supplies $4.49-$4.99/750 (0.598¢-0.665¢)
- McGills Warehouse $2.49/1180 (0.211¢) (light gold)
- McGills Warehouse $2.49/1180 (0.211¢) (dark gold)
- McGills Warehouse $2.49/1180 (0.211¢) (yellow gold)
6mm Round Yellow Faceted
- Craft Kits and Supplies $3.59-$3.99/1000 (0.359¢-0.399¢)
Ten Bar
These can be purchased for as low as $0.20 a piece (bought in groups of 45). If you can make them for less than this it could be worthwhile.
Beaded Hundred Square
These can be purchased for as low as $1.67 each (bought in groups of 9).
Beaded Thousand Cube
The lowest price for these is $15.99 each.
Wooden Hundred Square
These can be purchased for as low as $0.44 a piece (bought in groups of 45). If you can make them for less than this it could be worthwhile.
Hundred squares and thousand cubes are 7.5cm across. Hundred squares are 7.5mm thick.
- Wooden hundred squares (and thousand cubes) could be made using a stencil made with a small hole punch and gold spray paint.
- Hundred squares can also be made using a stamp made from pencil erasers.
- Source:Walk Beside Me
Wooden Thousand Cube
These can be purchased for as low as $2.11 a piece (bought in groups of 9). If you can make them for less than this it could be worthwhile.
Where to Buy
Golden Unit Beads
Adena 9 for $0.15
Bruins 9 for $0.60
Adena 45 for $0.53
Alison's 45 for $4.00
Bruins 45 for $3.00
Albanesi 100 for $9.00
Albanesi 100 for $10.00
Albanesi 100 for $18.00 (with box)
E & O 100 for $11.00 (with box)
Hello Wood 100 for $10.00
Kid Advance 100 for $3.99
Montessori Concepts 100 for $4.50
Montessori N' Such 100 for $3.00
Montessori Outlet 100 for $2.95
Nienhuis 100 for $6.50
Nienhuis 100 for $9.50
Nienhuis 100 for $7.50
Golden Bead Ten Bars
Hello Wood 1 for $1.60
Adena 9 for $2.19
Alison's 9 for $8.00
Bruins 9 for $12.00 (with box)
Bruins 9 for $9.00
Montessori Concepts 9 for $3.00
Albanesi 10 for $18.00 (with box)
Adena 45 for $10.20
Albanesi 45 for $36.00 (with box)
Bruins 45 for $39.00
E & O 45 for $59.00 (with box)
Hello Wood 45 for $75.00 (with box)
Kid Advance 45 for $11.99
Kid Advance 45 for $16.99(with box)
Montessori Concepts 45 for $16.00
Montessori Concepts 45 for $21.00 (with box)
Montessori N' Such 45 for $25.00
Montessori Outlet 45 for $12.95 (with box)
Nienhuis 45 for $57.50 (with box)
Nienhuis 45 for $35.50 (with box)
Nienhuis 45 for $50.50 (with box)
Golden Bead Hundred Squares
Albanesi 1 for $8.00
Bruins 1 for $10.00
E & O 1 for $11.00
Hello Wood 1 for $20.00
Kid Advance 1 for $2.99
Montessori Outlet 1 for $2.95
Nienhuis 1 for $3.50
Nienhuis 1 for $14.50
Nienhuis 1 for $13.00
Adena 9 for $20.41
Alison's 9 for $36.00
Bruins 9 for $85.00
Montessori Concepts 9 for $34.00
Albanesi 10 for $125.00
Albanesi 10 for $68.00 (with box)
Montessori N' Such 10 for $48.00
Adena 45 for $87.45
Montessori Concepts 45 for $85.00
Golden Bead Thousand Cubes
Adena 1 for $22.15
Albanesi 1 for $60.00
Albanesi 1 for $80.00 (with box)
Alison's 1 for $36.00
Bruins 1 for $75.00
E & O 1 for $92.00
Hello Wood 1 for $150.00
Kid Advance 1 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 1 for $37.00
Montessori N' Such 1 for $48.00
Montessori Outlet 1 for $27.95
Nienhuis 1 for $30.50
Nienhuis 1 for $101.50
Nienhuis 1 for $85.50
Wooden Hundred Squares
Kid Advance 10 for $5.99
Montessori Concepts 10 for $12.00
Montessori Outlet 10 for $7.95
Nienhuis 10 for $22.50
Adena 45 for $23.32
Albanesi 45 for $177.00 (with tray)
Alison's 45 for $22.00
Alison's 45 for $44.50
Bruins 45 for $55.00
E & O 45 for $82.00
Kid Advance 45 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 45 for $56.00
Wooden Thousand Cubes
Albanesi 1 for $9.00
Montessori N' Such 1 for $4.50
Adena 9 for $23.32
Alison's 9 for $22.00
Alison's 9 for $45.00
Bruins 9 for $39.00
E & O 9 for $64.00
Kid Advance 9 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 9 for $50.00
Montessori N' Such 10 for $35.00
Montessori Outlet 10 for $29.95
Nienhuis 10 for $59.90
Sets
Albanesi $600.00
Alison's $206.00 (45 layout with large number cards)
Alison's $350.00
Alison's $405.00
Bruins $485.00
Bruins $220.00
E & O $495.00
Kid Advance $239.99
Base 10 Blocks
An alternative to the golden beads that are used in many public elementary schools are base ten blocks. These are made out of plastic and are a bit larger than the golden beads. I have not yet found these at a lower cost than the equivalent golden beads. If you can find a good deal on a used set they would be fine to use instead.
Where to Buy
ETA Cuisenaire $137.95 (400 units, 200 tens, 40 hundreds, 4 thousands)
ETA Cuisenaire $249.95 (1,000 units, 500 tens, 100 hundreds, 10 thousands)
ETA Cuisenaire $109.95 (600 units, 300 tens, 30 hundreds
Learning Resources $129.99 (600 units, 200 tens, 20 hundreds, 3 thousands)
Learning Resources $99.99 (600 units, 200 tens, 20 hundreds, 3 thousands)
Learning Resources $62.99 (100 units, 50 tens, 10 hundreds, 1 thousand)
Learning Resources $3.50 (100 units)
Learning Resources $5.99 (1 thousand)
