Printed arrowsThe bead mater

Printed Arrows are the numbered labels a child sets beside the coloured bead chains while counting, so the count leaves a visible trail from the first bead to the last. Each arrow marks one step of the skip count, and the arrows for the square and the cube close the chain off, so multiplication is met long before it is written down. Laid along a long chain across the floor, the sequence becomes something the child can walk beside and read. For children from about four years working with the short and long chains.