Montessori Mom

The Montessori Snake Game is a beautifully hands-on way to teach addition, and it remains one of my favorite lessons to present. Children love watching the colorful "snake" of bead bars transform into a gleaming golden snake of tens — and along the way, they internalize addition facts, place value, and the concept of exchanging.

Overview

• Skill: Addition
• Age: 5½ and older

Purpose of the Snake Game

The Snake Game teaches children their addition tables in a concrete, visual way. It also introduces several important mathematical concepts:

• Changing number systems and base-10 understanding through the golden bead bars
• Ones place recognition using the black-and-white bead stair
• Pre-multiplication and division readiness
• The law of equality — a foundational concept used in upper math courses such as algebra

If your child is just getting started with the Short Bead Stair, be sure to introduce that material first, as it familiarizes children with the colored bead bars used throughout the Snake Game.

Materials Needed

• A box of colored short bead stairs (at least 3 sets)
• A box of golden ten bars (at least 7 bars)
• An empty box
• One set of black-and-white bead bars, 1 through 9 — The bars 1 through 5 are black. The 6 bar is 5 black beads and 1 white bead. The 7 bar is 5 black beads and 2 white beads. The 8 bar is 5 black beads and 3 white beads. The 9 bar is 5 black beads and 4 white beads.
• A felt or cloth mat (a heavy cloth place mat works well)

You can find a complete set that includes all of these materials in one box:

👉 Montessori Snake Game Set — includes colored bead bars, golden ten bars, and black-and-white bead stair.

👉 BOHS Montessori Bead Stair Set — a colored bead stair set with sorting tray, great for supplementing your collection.

Free Printouts

If you'd like reference cards for your bead stairs, download these free printouts:

• Bead Stair Printout (black and white)
• Color Bead Stair Printout

Presentation

Place the mat on a table. Using the colored short bead stairs, make a snake. I like to arrange it going straight from left to right to avoid confusion.

Technically, you can arrange the beads in any order. However, I like to figure out the total sum of the bead bars at the beginning — it makes the checking exercise much easier. For example, pair up bars that will make ten: a 9 bead bar with a 1 bead bar somewhere else in the snake, an 8 bead bar with a 2 bead bar, a 7 bead bar with a 3 bead bar, a 6 bead bar with a 4 bead bar, and a 5 bead bar with another 5 bead bar.

Here is an example for your first snake made from the bead bars:

1 + 6 + 2 + 8 + 2 + 5 + 4 + 6 + 5 + 3 + 9 + 7 + 9 + 4 + 1

Step-by-Step Process

1. Set up the black-and-white stair: Put the black-and-white beads in a triangle stair from 1 to 9 at the edge of the mat.

2. Begin counting: Count the beads on the bars beginning at one end of the snake. Stop counting when you reach 10. (If you are using the example above, this will be one bead into the 8 bead bar.) I use a sharp pencil to count with and let the pencil lead hold the place where I reached 10. Continue counting to the end of that bar. You will have 7 left. So you will have 10 plus 7.

3. Exchange: Place the 1, 6, 2, and 8 bead bars into the separate box. Replace these bars with a golden 10 bead bar and a 7 black-and-white bar.

4. Continue counting: Count from the end of the golden 10 bar, beginning with the 7 black-and-white bar, then the 2 bar, then the 5 bar, placing the pencil one bead into the 5 bar. This makes 10 plus 4.

5. Exchange again: Put the black-and-white 7 bar back in the black-and-white triangle bead stair, and place the colored 2 and 5 bead bars into the box with the other used beads. Replace them with a golden 10 bead bar and a 4 black bead bar.

6. Repeat: Continue counting with this method until the whole snake has been turned into golden ten bars and any remainder black-and-white bead bar. Using our example, you will end up with 7 golden ten bars and 1 black two bar — showing that the total is 72!

Checking Your Work

Take out of the box the colored bead bars from the snake game. Put together quantities that make 10, such as:

• 8 bead bar + 2 bead bar
• 9 bead bar + 1 bead bar
• 7 bead bar + 3 bead bar
• 6 bead bar + 4 bead bar
• 5 bead bar + 5 bead bar

Check these colored bead combinations against the row of golden bars. Use a colored (green) two bead bar to replace the black remainder bar.

When your child does this on his or her own, you may need to help change some of the colored beads into smaller bead quantities. For example, if your child is left with 2 six bead bars and 1 eight bead bar, show your child that the eight bead bar can be exchanged for 2 four bead bars. The 2 six bead bars and the 2 four bead bars will then make 2 golden ten bars.

Try This: Sorting by Quantity

Put together all the 9 bead bars in a group. Place a nine bar in front of your child, count to nine, and ask the child to find one more bead to make ten. Sort out the other beads through 5 into their respective groups. Count until all the bead bars are put into combinations of 10.

Easier Snake Game Variation

For younger or beginning children, make the snake game end with a sum of exactly 10, 20, 30, and so on — in other words, without a remainder. This simplifies the exercise and builds confidence before introducing remainders.

Related Lessons

Once your child has mastered the Addition Snake Game, explore these related activities:

• Negative Snake Game (Subtraction) — the subtraction counterpart to this lesson
• Short Bead Stair — introduces the colored bead stair material used in the Snake Game
• Counting Games — more counting and math activities
• Montessori Sensorial Education and Early Math Experiences — overview of the math progression