The abacus {also referred to as a counting frame} is a neat tool that has been used for math and various other purposes for centuries. Its origins take root in European, Chinese, and Russian cultures. Today, the abacus is still heavily used in many countries and, upon occasion, is even used here in America.
Since we have decided to home school our kids this year, the abacus popped up on my radar as a great tool to use. Since my kids aren’t yet into the math aspect of an abacus {other than counting}, we have been using it {I have thus far been using this fun wooden abacus as opposed to a traditional one} to fine tune their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills {as well as other skills} with it by having them do patterns.
The kids love just simply playing with this thing. They move the beads back and forth and count them. But I designed some cards for them to use to create patterns with it because I wanted it to be a little more challenging and brain stretching for them. Turns out, they love doing it with the cards even more!
Some ways that they play with the abacus and the cards are as follows:
- Countdown. I set a stop watch on my cell phone for one minute {or two minutes, depends on the child’s skill level and the pattern difficulty} and see if they can beat the beep.
- Speed. Like countdown, only I set the stop watch to count up. They recreate the pattern as fast as they can and try to beat their previous record.
- Taking turns. We shuffle the cards and put them face-down on the table. Then they take turns flipping one over and doing the pattern. This can also be timed {an egg timer might be handy}. Sometimes even a grown up joins in this game.
- Independent time. When I’m working specifically with one of my boys during school, I often have the other pick an educational toy to play with until I’m done. The abacus is definitely a popular pick.
- Create a new pattern. I created a bigger, blank abacus printable so that they can create their own pattern and draw it onto the blank abacus using markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
Free Printable Abacus Cards
I’ve included the cards that I’ve created for you to download for free below. One thing to note are the alphabet pattern cards–I only have an A and a B. As your kids learn the alphabet, help them in forming the beads into the remaining alphabet shapes to further challenge them.
Print out the cards onto white cardstock then, if you have a laminator, laminate them then cut them out. For the blank abacus bonus printable, I typically print out several with the lowest quality ink onto regular printer paper {but you of course may print it out however you like}.
And here is the abacus that we bought in case you like it.
corine says
Merci pour ce post.