LER 1323

ages
años
ans
jahre

grades K+
5+

10-Row Abacus

Introduce early math concepts!

• Numbers • Sequencing
• Counting • Addition
• Grouping • Subtraction

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Introduction Practice Problems
Open the door to early learning and the discovery of numbers. The abacus allows The problems listed below are some suggested problems to teach and explore.
children to begin to understand simple mathematical concepts at an early age. Use the
abacus to teach basic math concepts and provide hands-on exploration of numbers EXAMPLE Addition Problems
and counting. This abacus can be used to explore simple addition and subtraction.
1. Q. If you have 4 red and 3 yellow beads,
Listed below are some suggested activities and problems to explore.
how many beads do you have
altogether? 4
Activity 1 +3
A. 4 + 3 = 7 (see Figure B)
1 to 100 7
Explore and play with the beads. Allow the children to hold and touch the abacus until
they figure out how to move the beads. Share and discuss what they notice about the 2. Q. If you have 3 beads of each color, how
abacus. They should be able to notice that there are 10 beads on each row and that many beads do you have total?
there are two rows of every color.
A. Since there are 5 colors on the abacus,
Have the children count the beads on each row. Practice counting from 1 to 10. you will have 15 beads.
Moving the beads from left to right while counting aloud will help reinforce this skill.
Moving the beads from left to right will also help children to distinguish between left Figure B
and right. Keep counting all the beads to learn the different numbers from 1 to 100. 3. Q. Add 2 red, 3 orange, 4 yellow, 5 green,
and 6 blue beads. How many beads are
Ask the children to figure out how many beads there are on the whole abacus. They there altogether?
can either figure this out by counting all the beads or by adding: 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10
+ 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10. A. 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 20 beads

When the children master the skill of counting 1-10, have them apply it to other things
in the room. Have them count 10 chairs, books, people, etc. This will help reinforce
what they have already learned. EXAMPLE Subtraction Problems
1. Q. If you start with 8 beads and give 3 to
Activity 2 your friend, how many beads do you
have left? 8
2 by 2 -3
Use the abacus to explore counting by 2s. Ask them to count all the red beads by A. 8 – 3 = 5 beads (see Figure C)
counting by 2s. Have them move two red beads at a time when they count. They 5
should try to count aloud by twos (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc.) as they move the beads. Ask
them how many red beads there are total. They should figure out that there are 20 2. Q. You have 20 beads that are either green
red beads. This is a difficult skill to learn. Use the abacus to help them visualize the or blue. 10 of them are green. How many
numbers that are being counted. This process can also be used to discover how to blue beads do you have?
count by 5s.
A. 20 beads – 10 green beads =
10 blue beads
Activity 3 Figure C
Renaming 10
3. Q. If you took away half of the 100 beads,
How many ways can you make 10? Push all the
how many would you have left?
beads to the right side of the abacus. Start by asking
children to make the equation 9 + 1 = 10. In the first A. 100 beads – 50 beads = 50 beads left
red row have 9 beads on the left side and 1 bead
on the right side. Ask them to make 8 + 2 = 10. Ask
them to create 8 other equations that are equal to
ten. As they make the equations they should state
what equation they are making. See figure A.
(9 + 1 = 10, 8 + 2 = 10, 7 + 3 = 10, 6 + 4 = 10,
Figure A
5 + 5 = 10, 4 + 6 = 10, 3 + 7 = 10, 2 + 8 = 10,
1 + 9 = 10, 0 + 10 = 10)

This can also be used to make other equal or inverse equations.

(Ex. 4 + 1 = 5, 3 + 2 = 5, 2 + 3 = 5, 1 + 4 = 5)