Addition Strip Board (Nienhuis)
Made by Nienhuis Montessori · shipped by Heutink International (Netherlands) About the maker
A hardboard chart twelve squares by eighteen with the numbers one to eighteen printed across the top, worked with nine red strips divided into squares and nine solid blue ones, all numbered one to nine, in a hardwood box. Laying a blue strip and a red strip end to end and reading off where they stop is a sum done by length rather than by counting, and doing all eighty one of them in order is where the addition tables stop being a list to memorise and start being a pattern a child has walked through. Painted and natural wood, for ages 3 to 6.
“Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world.”
The Addition Strip Board transforms abstract number relationships into tangible experiences through color-coded wooden strips that children physically manipulate on a numbered grid.
- Masters addition facts from 1+1 through 9+9 through hands-on manipulation
- Discovers commutative property by observing that 4+2 equals 2+4
- Develops visual memory of number combinations through color patterns
- Builds systematic thinking by exploring all possible ways to make each sum
Read More
This mathematical manipulative board addresses the young child's need to understand addition through movement and visual patterns, allowing them to build equations with blue and red strips while discovering mathematical relationships independently. The board's design with its precise grid up to 18 enables children to explore all possible addition combinations systematically, creating a sensorial foundation for memorizing addition facts. By physically placing strips end-to-end on the numbered grid, children internalize the concept that addition means combining quantities to create a new total. The Addition Strip Board's concrete approach honors the child's developmental stage where hands-on manipulation precedes abstract understanding, providing repeated opportunities to discover that 5+3 and 3+5 both equal 8 through direct experience with the colored wooden strips.
How to present it
Follow the Montessori method of presentation for optimal child development.
Place the Addition Strip Board on a mat with the box of blue and red wooden strips beside it. Ensure strips are organized by length in their compartments.
- 1
Select a blue strip (first addend) and place it starting at 1 on the grid
Blue always goes first to establish consistent left-to-right progression - 2
Choose a red strip (second addend) and place it directly after the blue strip
Ensure strips touch without overlapping for accurate sum reading - 3
Read where the red strip ends to find the sum
Run your finger along both strips to reinforce the combining action - 4
Record the equation on paper: blue number + red number = sum
Say the equation aloud while writing to engage multiple senses - 5
Continue with different combinations, exploring patterns
Try all combinations that equal the same sum to discover relationships
Every Child Is a Little Creator
Heritage
Since 1929
In classrooms
Around the world
European brands
Nienhuis, GAM, Educo
AMI approved
To the association standard
Addition Strip Board (Nienhuis)
