String "100 Days of School" Beads!

What You Need:

• 90 beads – can be all the same or different but make sure they are roughly the same size
• 10 beads – make these larger than the 90 beads
• Cord – to string your beads on
• Glue gun

What You Do:

1. Tie a knot in your cord and dab the knot with your glue gun to keep it from coming apart. Cords can come undone and you don't want 100 beads to fall to the floor!
2. Have your child start to string on the beads and count as he goes. When he gets to ten, add one of the big beads. Continue to add beads with each multiple of ten being a large bead on the string.
3. When you get to 100 tie a knot in your cord and glue it with your glue gun. Make sure you leave a little extra room in the cord so that the beads can slide around (an inch or two should be plenty).

Now you have a great counting manipulative! This is great for doing math problems, practicing numbers and is a wonderful thing to take to school on the 100th day. You can ask your child to think of some more fun things to count. Get some mini marshmallow, pretzels or beans, and soon they will be expert counters.