Montessori Activity: Fun with Teaching Pattern Recognition through Stringing Beads/模式识别

First make a pattern for your child to follow when stringing

Age: From 4 years

Activity Duration: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s):
1. To get the child ready for Maths.
2. To teach logic and number pattern recognition.
3. To train the child’s fine motor skills.

Materials:
1. 1 container containing 4 beads each of 4-5 different colours
2. 1 string.
3. 1 clip as stopper (optional)
4. 1 compartmentalized container with 4-5 compartments for sorting.
5. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Tie a knot in the string with a last bead or clip it.

2. Ask your child to sort the beads by colours in the compartmentalized containers.

3. Demonstrate by stringing 1 set of pattern.

4. Encourage your child to continue to spring the beads following the pattern by asking what should the next bead be? See if your child can pick the correct beads to string.

Additional Information:
Recognizing patterns is part of the pre-school kindergarten curriculum in Singapore, and I saw such a problem sum from the Singapore pre-Maths book. However, I make it more fun by translating this pre-Maths problem sum into a Montessori-style activity for Joshua. Joshua (2Y11M21D) tried this today, but he wasn't interested in following any pattern, but insisted on randomly stringing the beads. At some point, he purposely strung the wrong colour bead to see my exasperated reaction. However, he completed stringing all the beads though. It looks like he is not ready nor interested in recognizing patterns yet. Perhaps the pattern I have made is too complex. I will try again with a simpler pattern. If not, I will put this aside and return to it later.

You can buy beads from Amazon:

Montessori Activity: Stringing Small Beads/Snor Perler/穿珠子[chuān zhū zi]

Age: From 2.5 years

Activity Duration: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 handful of small beads
2. 1 thin nylon string or fish line
3. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Tie a knot in the string with a last bead.
2. Show your child by picking up the string with right hand and moving the bead from left to right.
3. Encourage your child to try.
4. Remove the beads and repeat the activity if your child is interested.

Special Warning:

Supervise closely with the string. Remove and store away immediately after activity.

Cost:

2 packet of small beads: 10 DKK (2.50 SGD) from Tiger
2 rolls of nylon: 10 DKK (2.50 SGD) from Søstrene Grene

Additional Information:

J (2Y6M2D) tried this today. He practiced for 3 minutes and then got tired of it. I think a girl would enjoy stringing beads more, but because this is so good for fine motor skills training, I have introduced this activity to J. This is not an activity that I will introduce so often as the fineness of it (thin thread etc.) can be rather demanding on eye-sight.

Montessori Activity: Stringing Large Beads/Snor Perler/穿珠子[chuān zhū zi]

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 10 wooden beads
3. 1 string

Directions:

1. Show your child by tying a knot in the string.
2. Show your child by picking up the string with right hand and moving the bead from left to right.
3. Encourage your child to try.
4. Remove the beads and repeat the activity if your child is interested.

Special Warning:

Supervise closely with the string. Remove and store away immediately after activity.

Cost:

Beads and string: 10 DKK (2.50 SGD) from the flea market

Additional Information:

J (2Y1M4D) tried this before, but truly mastered it today, after observing A and being inspired by her. Kids are the best teachers for each other.