Time to Make Bean Sticks

No it's not a new food idea. It's an easy, homemade math manipulative that helps to teach the concepts of borrowing and carrying. I made my first set about 14-15 years ago and got the idea from a news letter from Rod and Staff. I made a set for each of my sons as they became old enough to need them and now it's time to make a set for my youngest.

All you need are:
Beans (any kind will do but dark ones are easier to see)
Tongue Depressors
White Glue

Take the beans and about 20 tongue depressors and glue ten beans on each tongue depressor. Allow these to dry, then go back and add more glue over the top of the beans. This sounds like over kill but really its not. The skin on the beans will loosen if you don't and the beans will drop off.

After the bean sticks dry again toss them along with a couple handfuls of beans into a gallon size zip lock bag and your set. When you teach borrowing or carrying just teach that ten bean can be traded for one bean stick or one bean stick may be traded for ten beans. Your bean sticks represent your tens and your beans the ones in a math problem.

This gave the boys something concrete to hang on to until they understood what they were doing well enough to just use the symbols. Fun, cheap, and it works!! What more could you ask for? Especially if you have to homeschool on a shoestring like I do.