The Arithmetic Materials ~ Golden Beads ~ Operations ~ Addition

~ This post is the third in a series about the Golden Bead Material. ~

Once a child is able to form and read complex numbers with the Large Number Cards and Golden Bead Material, operations are introduced.  This post will focus on addition, both static (no carrying over) and dynamic (carrying over).

Static Addition

Gather three children for this activity.  Two children are asked to set out the Small Number Cards. 

One child is asked to set out the Large Number Cards.  This child will be the banker.

(For this post, two numbers will be added together.)  The teacher selects four different Small Number Cards for the children.  These are placed on the children's trays.  The children are asked to go to the banker and ask for the amount of Golden Beads that correspond to the numbers on their tray.They are asked to meet the teacher back at the mat.

1,425

2,361

When the children return to the mat, each child is asked to verify the amount of beads on their tray.  These beads are then placed on the mat.  The child slides his/her number cards together and is asked to read the numbers.  The number cards are placed at the top right corner of the mat.

1,425 + 2,361 ~  Symbol and Quantity

The children are asked to put the Golden Beads together and count them.  This begins with the units.  Once the number of units is known, the child goes to the banker to get the Large Number Card that corresponds to this amount.   This is done for all the categories - units, tens, hundreds, thousands.

Putting the Beads Together

Slide the Large Number Cards together to get the total amount of beads brought to the mat.  Place it under the Small Number Cards in the top right corner of the mat.  "When you add small quantities to get a larger one we call it addition."  Note the two numbers added together (the addends) are represented with the Small Number Cards.  The answer (the sum) is larger and is represented with the Large Number Cards.

The Sum

Dynamic Addition

Once the children have had practice with static addition, dynamic addition is introduced.  The lesson is similar to the introduction of static addition.  The difference occurs when the children put the Golden Beads together.


Number cards are selected.  Quantities are retrieved from the banker and brought back to the mat. 

2,136

3,425

The quantities are placed on the mat.  The Small Number Cards are slid together. 

Small number cards and quantities ready to be added together.

In this example, the carrying over occurs in the units category (6 + 5 = 11).  Ten is a magic number.  When we have ten of one category, we must exchange for the next category.  In this case, we exchange ten units for one ten.  We are left with one unit.

The child has made a ten with the units.  The ten individual units are exchanged at the bank for a ten bar.  One unit is left.

The children continue to put the categories together and retrieve the corresponding Large Number Cards.

The Large Number Cards are slid together to get the total amount of beads brought to the mat.

"When we add small quantities together to get a larger one, what did we do?"  The children say "Addition."

The purpose of these activities is to give the children an impression of the nature of addition.  It is also to show how numbers can carry from one hierarchy to the next.