Large Colored Beads
Large colorful lacing beads are a wonderful tool to work on sequencing and patterns. Many children will approach this manipulative with a certain amount of trepidation as “lacing” is hard and requires fairly developed fine motor skills and strong hand-eye coordination. Many children work for a long time simply trying to get one bead on the string.
Suggestion…
Take your lacing string and tie the end to a chair or tape it on the table. One of the frustrating elements of lacing beads is once the child gets the bead on the string, it may simply slip off the other end. Make sure this doesn’t happen before you start.
How do you support children as they use explore the beads?
One way that I support my preschoolers with beads is by helping them sort beads and laces beforehand so there are no tangles. I also help them count so that that can predict what may come next in their pattern.