DIY Teens & Tens Boards, Montessori Math at Home

We used thin craft plywood from an art supply store.

We were able to get the strip width we wanted, and cut them to length.  The most important thing to consider for your Tens Board is that the space between number sections should be wide enough to accommodate the ten bars needed to complete each number. 
Ours could certainly have been longer. 

The dividers are bamboo chopsticks, that we cut to size and glued on.  I had a sheet of numbers for various projects done for me at a local sign shop to make things easier and very durable.  You can glue small strips of wood on top of the sticks to allow the number chips to be slid in and out. 
They are working out amazing for us just as they are.

We made the box because it’s hard to find custom boxes, and the boxes for the material are actually very simple.  We use lattice moulding, cut the various pieces, clamp and glue.  The wood we used to make our number cards are from Michaels Crafts, and we applied the vinyl lettering.  We did buy the box of beads for the teen board, and added the unit beads to it so we could use it for both teens & Tens Boards.



There are many lessons for both boards. We have enjoyed them immensely in many ways. Above we made multiples of ten. Below we practiced making teen numbers and tens.


We have created an affordable Early Montessori Math Materials Package for those looking for an economical printed version of the materials. Often we created materials and added purchased beads as we've done here.


Montessori Early Mathematics Printable Package Includes: 
Number Cards and Counters Match up
 Number Cards ( your choice of counter) 
Sand Paper Numbers Including Ink Saver Black Line 
Hanging Bead Stair 
Hanging Bead Stair Teens
Spindle Boxes Including Ink Saver Black Line 
Hundreds Board and Tiles Including Ink Saver Black Line
Small Number Rods & Number Tiles
 Introduction to the Decimal System Presentation 
Introduction to Base Ten Presentation 
Fraction Circles 1-10ths 
Fraction Circle Labels 1-10ths 
Sign and Symbols Arithmetic Box Tiles 
Numeral to Word Match 1-20, 10 - 100 
Addition Board
Bead Stairs