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Montessori-Inspired Bead-and-Pipe-Cleaner Valentine Math Activities

February 14, 2011 By Deb Chitwood 17 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day! If you already have beads and pipe cleaners, you can easily create more than Valentine crafts. With the free printables available online, you can create Montessori-inspired Valentine’s Day math activities that are fun for a holiday yet work on important skills for preschoolers and kindergarteners.

Bead-and-Pipe-Cleaner Addition Activity

Bead-and-Pipe-Cleaner Addition Activity

Bead-and-Pipe-Cleaner Addition Activity

Using printables from the free Valentine’s Day Unit by Musings of Me, it was simple to create a hands-on addition activity. I printed and cut out some hearts with the numbers 1-10 (I used a hole puncher to make to holes for the pipe cleaner) along with addition cards.

UPDATE: The printables from Musings of Me are no longer available, but you could substitute printables such as the Valentine Number Matchups from Confessions of a Homeschooler for the numbered hearts. Here’s an option for free valentine addition task cards by Runs on Coffee SPED at Teachers Pay Teachers.

For a school, it’s always best to laminate the printables. For a homeschool, you can simplify your preparation by using glossy photo paper without lamination unless an activity will receive a lot of use. I added beads, a pipe cleaner, salt shaker, containers for the beads, and a tray. The activity is actually a math extension of the Lacing Beads from Counting Coconuts.

Generally, this would be appropriate for ages 4½ and up although Montessori education is always individualized. An older child could write the answers on laminated addition cards with erasable markers or write out the problems and answers on another paper. A younger child who has an advanced understanding of numbers but the fine-motor coordination appropriate for his or her age could use the activity without any writing.

Bead-and-Pipe-Cleaner Counting Activity

Pipe-Cleaner-and-Bead Counting Activity

Pipe-Cleaner-and-Bead Counting Activity

Younger children could simply count beads to correspond to the number on each heart. This is a variation of an activity from Leptir, which is a variation of Montessori cards and counters. Most children are ages 4 and up before they’re comfortable matching quantity and symbol, but you can adjust the activity according to your child’s abilities.

Bead Counting Activity

Bead Counting Activity

For younger children who want to do the activity but wouldn’t be able to do it on their own, you could count the beads while your child pushes each bead onto the pipe cleaner. It’s important to have only 55 beads to coordinate with numbered hearts from 1-10. Having exactly 55 beads serves as a control of error by showing your child if he or she made a mistake when the number of beads isn’t correct at the end. The beads are all the same color to isolate the difficulty in counting rather than color.

Be creative in preparing activities that fit your child’s developmental level and needs. The exact tray or containers can vary according to what you have available. Just make your activity as attractive as possible and be sure to demonstrate how to use the activity, returning it to the shelf at the end of your demonstration.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day – one that helps your child learn or reinforce skills and have fun at the same time!

Deb - Signature

Montessori at Home or School - How to Teach Grace and Courtesy eBookLearn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), Instagram, and YouTube. You can find me on bloglovin’ and Twitter, too.

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Filed Under: Activities - Math, Activity of the Week Tagged With: Activity of the Week, addition, cards and counters, Montessori education, Montessori-inspired, Valentine math activities, Valentine's Day math activities

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jody says

    February 14, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    This is a great post. We have a similar post on our shelves now but used bamboo skewers instead of the pipe cleaners.

    Thanks for your wonderful blog, I love it!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 14, 2011 at 4:46 pm

      Thanks so much for your very kind comment, Jody! Bamboo skewers would work well. I love your blog, too! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

      Reply
  2. Michelle says

    February 14, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    Oh, I love those. They are so pretty, what kid wouldn’t want to learn math, right? Great site link too, I’ll be following along!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 14, 2011 at 4:48 pm

      Thanks, Michelle! The Virtual Valentine’s Day Party at JDaniel4’s Mom has been lots of fun – and has links to so many great ideas!

      Reply
  3. Kerri says

    February 14, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    Hi Deb! I love your Valentine activity! What a great idea to work the beads up the pipe cleaner and to use the shaker as a holder!

    Thanks to for sharing my painting on FB.

    Happy Valentine’s Day! The hubby is working here:-(

    Take care,
    Kerri

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 14, 2011 at 11:28 pm

      Thanks for your kind comment, Kerri! I was happy to share your wonderful Valentine’s Day activities! I hope you’ve been able to have a good Valentine’s Day in spite of your hubby’s work! <3

      Reply
  4. Worlds Best Information says

    February 14, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    I think its a creative activity and kids would love it.

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 14, 2011 at 11:35 pm

      Thanks for your kind comment!

      Reply
  5. Kimberly says

    February 14, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    I love this activity! It is so colorful! I need to get some pipe cleaners tomorrow and then I am going to have the kids give it a try. I really think this would be a great idea for my middle daughter. She needs to use all of her senses during the learning process and this activity does that. Thank you for sharing. Have a great week!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 14, 2011 at 11:37 pm

      Thanks so much, Kimberly! Hands-on learning is wonderful for young children in general, but for children like your middle daughter, it’s even more important. I hope you have a great week, too!

      Reply
  6. laughwithusblog says

    February 16, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    What a fun themed learning game! Thank you so much for featuring my Valentine activities on Facebook!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 16, 2011 at 7:37 pm

      Thanks, Esther! I was happy to feature your fun Valentine’s Day activities!

      Reply
  7. Denise G says

    February 19, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Great post! Very creative!

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 19, 2011 at 4:42 pm

      Thanks, Denise! Have a great weekend! 🙂

      Reply
  8. zelda says

    February 20, 2011 at 1:21 pm

    You already know how much I love this blog so it won’t be a supprise to learn that I’ve sent you a blog award – come see it at
    http://homeschoolescapade.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Deb says

      February 20, 2011 at 5:19 pm

      Thanks SO MUCH for your kind words and for the very sweet blog award, Zelda! I’m honored and really appreciate it! I’m going to put it up on my awards page right now!:)

      Reply
  9. Rachel says

    February 6, 2012 at 10:01 am

    I love this! I am going to make a work based on this for sight words. Thank you for always posting such great resources!

    Reply

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