Make Me Golden Beads Bank Game Place Value Activity (Sample Freebie)

Your child can read a number—but can they build it accurately with units, tens, hundreds and thousands?

Place value can appear secure on a worksheet while gaps remain underneath. A learner may read 3,406 correctly yet forget the zero hundreds, confuse tens and units or collect the right quantity in the wrong hierarchy.

These Montessori Make Me Number Cards give children purposeful, hands-on practice building two-, three- and four-digit numbers with Golden Beads, the Stamp Game or other base-ten materials.

Instead of completing another page of abstract numerals, children choose a card, construct the number and use the control on the reverse to check their work independently.

Turn Place Value Into Something Children Can See

Each card asks the learner to make a specific number. To complete the task, the child must decide how many:

• units are needed;
• tens are needed;
• hundreds are needed; and
• thousands are needed.

This makes the structure of the number visible. A number such as 2,035 is no longer just four written digits—it becomes two thousands, zero hundreds, three tens and five units.

A Simple Independent Work Cycle

1. The child selects one card.
2. They read the number aloud.
3. They collect the corresponding Golden Beads or Stamp Game pieces.
4. They arrange the quantity by hierarchy.
5. They read the completed number back.
6. They check the control independently.
7. They return the materials before choosing another card.

The activity can begin as a teacher-guided presentation and later remain on the maths shelf for repeated independent work.

Particularly Helpful for Neurodivergent Learners

Each card gives one clear instruction and one visible finishing point. Learners can work with a small number of cards instead of facing a crowded worksheet.

The resource may be especially supportive for children who benefit from:

• concrete quantities rather than verbal explanations alone;
• Montessori place-value colour cues;
• one task at a time;
• movement and hands-on construction;
• private self-correction;
• repetition without large amounts of handwriting; or
• a gradual increase in difficulty.

Easy to Differentiate

For beginning learners: Offer only several two-digit cards and use Golden Beads so the quantities remain highly concrete.

For developing learners: Introduce three-digit cards and include numbers containing an internal zero.

For confident learners: Use the four-digit cards with the Stamp Game, ask the child to record each number in expanded form or compare two completed quantities.

Ways to Use This Resource

• Golden Bead follow-up
• Stamp Game preparation
• Montessori maths shelves
• Place-value lessons
• Independent work cycles
• Small-group intervention
• Homeschool maths
• Partner checking
• Work-plan activities
• Formative assessment

Created by an Experienced Montessori Educator

I’m Lisa—an NZ registered teacher, Montessori-trained educator, school principal and former homeschooler.

I create practical resources for mixed-age classrooms and diverse learners. These cards were designed to provide meaningful repetition while preserving the concrete, independent nature of Montessori place-value work.