Golden Beads

From Montessori Album
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
We've updated our prices on products from many online Montessori stores! If we've missed your favorite store, please let us know!

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 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.

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. (2.95 inches by 0.295 inches)
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

Prices and links checked: 23 January 2022

Single Beads - 9
Store Price
Adena $0.29
Bruins $2.00
Single Beads - 45
Store Price
Adena $1.99
Alison's $3.80
Bruins $4.00
Single Beads - 100
Store Price
Affordable Montessori $5.00
E & O $5.40
E & O
with box
$9.90
Kid Advance $3.99
Leader Joy $8.95
Montessori Concepts $5.50
Montessori Outlet $2.95
Nienhuis $13.50
Nienhuis $20.00
Pink Montessori $3.79
Unit Bead Cups
Store Price
Affordable Montessori $4.00
Alison's
for 2
$8.40
Bruins
for 1
$5.00
Montessori Outlet $1.95
Ten Bars - 9
Store Price
Adena $3.88
Alison's $7.98
Bruins $12.00
Kid Advance $3.99
Leader Joy $10.95
Montessori Concepts $3.00
Nienhuis $5.40
Nienhuis $6.50
Ten Bars - 45
Store Price
Adena $13.95
Affordable Montessori $22.00
Alison's $60.00
Bruins $53.00
E & O
with box
$37.80
Kid Advance $14.99
Kid Advance
with box
$23.99
Leader Joy
with box
$21.95
Montessori Concepts $17.00
Montessori Concepts
with box
$21.00
Montessori n Such $25.00
Montessori Outlet
with box
$18.95
Nienhuis
with box
$64.00
Nienhuis
with box
$72.30
Pink Montessori $13.99
Pink Montessori
with box
$18.90
Hundred Square - 1
Store Price
Affordable Montessori $3.75
Bruins $10.00
E & O $5.40
Kid Advance $3.99
Montessori Outlet $3.95
Nienhuis $25.40
Nienhuis $30.80
Hundred Square - 9
Store Price
Adena $26.95
Alison's $35.91
Bruins $102.00
Kid Advance $29.99
Leader Joy $33.95
Montessori Concepts $34.00
Pink Montessori $23.89
Hundred Square - 10
Store Price
Montessori n Such $48.00
Hundred Square - 45
Store Price
Adena $138.99
Thousand Cube - 1
Store Price
Adena $29.92
Affordable Montessori $31.00
Alison's $35.91
Bruins $93.00
E & O $40.50
Kid Advance $30.99
Leader Joy $36.95
Montessori Concepts $37.00
Montessori n Such $48.00
Montessori Outlet $37.95
Nienhuis $119.00
Nienhuis $138.55
Pink Montessori $25.90
Wooden Hundred Square - 10
Store Price
Kid Advance $9.99
Leader Joy $16.95
Montessori Concepts $12.00
Montessori Outlet $12.95
Nienhuis $25.40
Wooden Hundred Square - 1
Store Price
Affordable Montessori $1.50
Materials Co. of Boston $1.25
Wooden Hundred Square - 45
Store Price
Adena $31.99
Alison's $31.50
Alison's $65.00
Bruins $103.00
E & O $48.60
Kid Advance $32.99
Leader Joy $55.95
Montessori Concepts $56.00
Montessori Outlet $59.95
Pink Montessori $28.90
Wooden Thousand Cube - 1
Store Price
Affordable Montessori $4.00
Materials Co. of Boston $4.75
Wooden Thousand Cube - 9
Store Price
Adena $31.99
Alison's $31.50
Alison's $65.00
Bruins $58.00
E & O $46.80
Kid Advance $39.99
Leader Joy $49.95
Montessori Concepts $50.00
Montessori Outlet $53.90
Pink Montessori $28.90
Wooden Thousand Cube - 10
Store Price
Kid Advance $44.43
Montessori Outlet $59.95
Nienhuis $62.95
Sets
Store Price
Affordable Montessori
with number cards
$319.00
Affordable Montessori
with number cards
$349.00
Alison's
45 layout with large number cards
$260.00
Alison's $359.10
Alison's $460.00
Bruins $575.00
Bruins $260.00
E & O $445.50
Kid Advance $267.99
Kid Advance $269.99
Leader Joy $299.95
Montessori Outlet $359.95
Nienhuis $678.80
Nienhuis $727.70
Pink Montessori $89.99
Pink Montessori $139.00
Fetching Trays
Store Price
Affordable Montessori
8 trays
$55.00
Nienhuis
1 tray
$42.25

Base 10 Blocks

An alternative to the golden beads are the base ten blocks that are used in many public elementary schools. These are made out of plastic and are a bit larger than the golden beads. If you can find a good deal on a used set, they would be fine to use instead.

Where to Buy

Prices and links checked: 31 July 2020

Plastic Bead Sets
Store Price
Learning Resources
100 units, 30 tens, 10 hundreds, 1 thousand
$39.99
Learning Resources
10 tens
$11.99
Learning Resources
100 units, 20 tens, 1 hundred
$7.99
Learning Resources
600 units, 200 tens, 20 hundreds, 3 thousands
$99.99