Golden Beads

From Montessori Album
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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.
Golden Bead pic.jpg
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.

Wooden 100 and 1000.JPG

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

6mm Round Yellow Faceted

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.
100 sq measure 1.jpg 100 sq measure 2.jpg

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
Cabdev 9 for $2.00
Caliber 9 for $0.09
Creative Learning 9 for $1.00
Grandpas 9 for $0.50
Montessori Concepts 9 for $0.40
Juliana Group 10 for $12.60 (with box)
Adena 45 for $0.53
Alison's 45 for $4.00
Bruins 45 for $3.00
Cabdev 45 for $4.00
Caliber 45 for $0.39
Montessori Concepts 45 for $1.80
Albanesi 100 for $9.00
Albanesi 100 for $10.00
Albanesi 100 for $18.00 (with box)
Creative Learning 100 for $2.99
E & O 100 for $11.00 (with box)
Grandpas 100 for $5.00
Hello Wood 100 for $10.00
Juliana Group 100 for $4.20
Juliana Group 100 for $15.40 (with box)
Kid Advance 100 for $3.99
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
Grandpas 1 for $0.50
Grandpas 1 for $0.70
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
Caliber 9 for $1.99
Creative Learning 9 for $2.50
Montessori Concepts 9 for $2.20
Albanesi 10 for $18.00 (with box)
Cabdev 10 for $10.00
Juliana Group 10 for $19.60 (with box)
Juliana Group 10 for $7.00
Adena 45 for $10.20
Albanesi 45 for $36.00 (with box)
Bruins 45 for $39.00
Cabdev 45 for $52.00
Caliber 45 for $8.99
Creative Learning 45 for $11.95
E & O 45 for $59.00 (with box)
Grandpas 45 for $16.00
Grandpas 45 for $18.00
Hello Wood 45 for $75.00 (with box)
Juliana Group 45 for $29.40 (with box)
Kid Advance 45 for $11.99
Kid Advance 45 for $16.99(with box)
Montessori Concepts 45 for $10.00
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)
montessorialbum $15.5 (100 yellow beads)

Golden Bead Hundred Squares
Albanesi 1 for $8.00
Bruins 1 for $10.00
Cabdev 1 for $11.00
Creative Learning 1 for $2.75
E & O 1 for $11.00
Grandpas 1 for $4.00
Hello Wood 1 for $20.00
Juliana Group 1 for $5.60
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
Cabdev 9 for $55.00
Caliber 9 for $14.99
Creative Learning 9 for $19.95
Montessori Concepts 9 for $20.00
Albanesi 10 for $125.00
Albanesi 10 for $68.00 (with box)
Juliana Group 10 for $58.80 (with box)
Montessori N' Such 10 for $48.00
Adena 45 for $87.45
Caliber 45 for $79.99
Montessori Concepts 45 for $85.00
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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
Cabdev 1 for $82.00
Caliber 1 for $15.99
Creative Learning 1 for $21.95
E & O 1 for $92.00
Grandpas 1 for $37.00
Grandpas 1 for $39.00
Hello Wood 1 for $150.00
Juliana Group 1 for $65.80 (with box)
Juliana Group 1 for $49.00 (with box)
Kid Advance 1 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 1 for $20.00
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
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Wooden Hundred Squares
Juliana Group 1 for $1.40
Kid Advance 10 for $5.99
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
Cabdev 45 for $57.00
Caliber 45 for $19.99
Creative Learning 45 for $23.95
E & O 45 for $82.00
Grandpas 45 for $26.00
Juliana Group 45 for $119.00 (with tray)
Kid Advance 45 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 45 for $20.00
Montessori Land 45 for $32.00

Wooden Thousand Cubes
Albanesi 1 for $9.00
Juliana Group 1 for $7.00
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
Cabdev 9 for $59.00
Caliber 9 for $19.99
Creative Learning 9 for $23.95
E & O 9 for $64.00
Grandpas 9 for $24.00
Juliana Group 9 for $100.80 (with tray)
Kid Advance 9 for $23.99
Montessori Concepts 9 for $19.00
Montessori Land 9 for $30.00
Montessori N' Such 10 for $35.00
Montessori Outlet 10 for $29.95
Nienhuis 10 for $59.90

Unit Bead Cups
Alison's 2 for $7.00
Bruins 1 for $2.00
Creative Learning 2 for $6.00

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
Cabdev $635.00
E & O $495.00
Grandpas $169.00
Grandpas $179.00
Juliana Group $511.00
Juliana Group $645.60
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

I've included a comparison of what an equivalent amount of Golden Beads would cost (assuming the least expensive option). I've listed prices assuming wooden (w) and then beaded (b) hundreds and thousands.

ETA Cuisenaire $137.95 (400 units, 200 tens, 40 hundreds, 4 thousands) (w-$70.04, b-$174.76)
ETA Cuisenaire $249.95 (1,000 units, 500 tens, 100 hundreds, 10 thousands) (w-$175.10, b-$436.90)
ETA Cuisenaire $109.95 (600 units, 300 tens, 30 hundreds) (w-$79.20, b-$116.10)
Learning Resources $129.99 (600 units, 200 tens, 20 hundreds, 3 thousands) (w-$61.13, b-$127.37)
Learning Resources $99.99 (600 units, 200 tens, 20 hundreds, 3 thousands) (w-$61.13, b-$127.37)
Learning Resources $62.99 (100 units, 50 tens, 10 hundreds, 1 thousand) (w-$21.73, b-$75.67)
Learning Resources $3.50 (100 units) (b-$1.00)
Learning Resources $5.99 (1 thousand) (w-$2.11, b-$15.99)