Beading and Bead-weaving for Children

As a maths tutor, I have been using beading as a tool to make my classes more interesting for many years with great success. I found beading compliments mathematics in many ways and improves a child’s concentration. Each child’s ability vary and the guidelines I give here may differ for different children. Age 4 to 6: Patterns are an integral part of mathematics. It is advisable to use beads that are not round such as square beads or bicone shaped beads with flat faces. This will make it easy for the child to arrange the beads before stringing them. Stringing beads in a consecutive pattern, is not only good for hand-eye coordination, but lays a foundation for the recognition of number patterns from even numbers to complex algebraic equations. One would start with a simple 2 color pattern such as 1 red, 1white, 1 red, 1 white, …. After that, introduce more colors and then more of one color for example 1 red, 2 white, 1 blue, 2 white … Beads at this age can also be used as a counting tool by asking questions such as “how many white beads did we use?” Age 6 to 9: At this age one can introduce symmetry to the child. It will be handy if you could give the child a bead-stringing board to help with the laying out of the beads. One would start in the middle and arrange the beads one by one around this middle bead for example: l large red in the middle, 1 yellow on each side, one blue on each side and so forth. The pattern could be made more complex by introducing more beads of one color for example 1 large red in the middle, 3 small white on each side followed by 2 green on each side. Age 10 to 13: Reading a pattern and executing the instruction is a skill that will benefit a learner greatly in mathematics, science and in general things such as following a recipe when cooking or reading instructions for a new appliance. One would start with a very simple pattern such as 2 thread RAW (right angle weave). After that I would do something like a herringbone rope. Age 13+: Learners have now been introduced to 3 dimensional shapes called regular polyhedra or platonic solids and will enjoy making them with beads. These are commonly known by beaders as beaded balls. There are 5 shapes that are most commonly known. They are: a) Tetrahedron which has 4 faces which are triangular shaped with 6 edges which is the number of beads that are required to make them. This is a very easy shape to make with beads. b) The cube is also easy to make. The learner would need 12 beads to make this since a cube has 12 edges. c) The octahedron has 8 triangular faces and also has 12 edges so again the learners will need 12 beads to make it. d) The dodecahedron has 12 pentagonal (6 sided shape) faces and requires more skill to make. It has 30 edges therefore uses exactly 30 beads to make. e) The icosahedron has 20 triangular faces and also 30 edges. The learners would have learned about the nets of these shapes which I use when teaching them to make these shapes. Although boys enjoy making these as well, I find it particularly useful in teaching girls to visualize 3D shapes of drawings in books.