Valentine’s Hearts Hundred Board

The Hundred Board (buy here) is a traditional math material in a Montessori curriculum, meant to teach numbers 11-99. It consists of a blank board and wooden numbers from 1- 100. Adrian is referencing a control chart with all the numbers filled in, so he is not assembling the entire board from memory. The objective is memorization, and an understanding of numbers and their sequence. Also, this material trains the child to work from left to right, top to bottom; while teaching counting and skip counting, number recognition, number sequencing, patterning and much more. 

First, invite your child to sort number tiles into groups of ten: either using piles, small baskets, small jars, vertically creating columns, etc.

To add 💗Valentine’s spirit to this activity, I made a ❤️heart pattern on a control chart using heart stickers and invited Adrian to reproduce it on a Hundred Board using felt glitter hearts.

With smaller children, who cannot sequentially place numbers on the board yet, skip the assembly part and offer a board with numbers 1-100 already in it. Then invite a child to reconstruct the pattern from the control chart “making” a heart on the board using counters (e.g. red marbles, craft hearts, stickers, etc). Such practice will promote concentration and fine-motor skills as a child would have to be precise in placing hearts on its corresponding numbers. In the process of having to find the number on the board to cover it with a heart, a child is inevitably learning number placement, memorization, and sequencing.

Hearts-placement added a fun aspect to an activity which otherwise might seem overwhelming and mundane to a smaller child. Adrian definitely had fun with it!

For a detailed lesson on how to present a Hundred Board, read here “Montessori Hundred Board at 3 Yo.”

For more Valentines hands-on fun, see here ❤️Valentine’s Inspired Activities for Kids.

p.s. The Hundred Board is generally introduced after a child had mastered Numbers Rods, Sandpaper Numbers, Spindle Boxes, Teen Board and Tens’ board. 

Thanks for following our Montessori inspired journey, till next time, Xoxo