MA 4.02Addition Snake Game
The child lays colored bead bars end to end, counts to ten along them, and exchanges each ten for a golden ten bar until the line is all golden.
Presentation
- 1
Lay five or six colored bars end to end in a zigzag line: the snake.
- 2
Count along the snake from the start, sliding the marker card bead by bead. At ten, stop.
- 3
Take away the counted bars. If ten falls in the middle of a bar, replace the counted part with the golden ten bar and the leftover beads with a black-and-white bar of that number.
- 4
Place the colored bars that were removed in a separate row above the snake.
- 5
Continue counting from the black-and-white bar to the next ten.
- 6
Continue until the whole snake is golden, with perhaps one black-and-white bar at the end.
- 7
Count the golden bars by tens and add any leftover beads.
- 8
Check: lay the removed colored bars in groups beside each golden bar to show they make ten.
Extensions, easiest to hardest
- Longer snakes.
- Child records each ten reached as an equation (7 + 3 = 10, 4 + 6 = 10).
- Child writes the whole snake as one addition (7 + 5 + 3 + 8 …) with its total.
Control of error
In the check, each group of removed colored beads must equal the golden ten bar beside it, and the total of colored beads must equal the golden bars plus any remaining black-and-white beads.
Ready to move on when the child…
- Stops exactly at ten and exchanges without prompting
- Uses the black-and-white bars correctly for leftover beads
- Completes the check independently