10 Wonderful Ways to Use Pony Beads in the Classroom

When you think of teaching materials, pony beads are not usually an item that come to mind. But, they should! Those little colored beads can be used in a multitude of ways! Plus, they are cheap and easy to find. Furthermore, when your students use them, they are strengthening their fine motor skills. Muscles that are key for good handwriting. Check out my post 7 Materials to Strengthen Fine Motor Skills to learn more about that. Then, keep reading to find out 10 wonderful ways to use pony beads in your classroom!

Use Pony Beads in Math

1. Make rekenreks. A rekenrek or number rack is a tool where students slide beads across a pipecleaner to count or solve math equations inside of 20. For each student to make a rekenrek, you will need a small rectangular piece of thin cardboard notched twice on each side, 2 pipecleaners, 10 beads in one color (usually red), and 10 beads in another color (usually white). Optionally, you will need strong tape to tape the pipecleaners to the back and small stickers to place in the top right corner.

Then, students will thread 5 red beads and 5 white beads on one pipecleaner and do the same to the other. Next, each pipecleaner will be placed across the front of the cardboard rectangle and wrapped around the notches on each side of the cardboard (red beads farthest to the left). These pipecleaners can be twisted together in the back or taped down. Finally, place a small sticker on the top right corner for students to remember the starting position for the beads.

Now your students can use them for composing and decomposing number sentences. Make it a game to see who can solve them in the fewest pushes of the beads! Here is a post from Making Number Sense Make Sense with more ideas for using rekenreks. And here is a link with a kit that includes everything you need to make rekenreks.

2. Use pony beads for counting. A simple way to use pony beads is for counting. You can place them in small zip top bags or small containers that are differentiated in some way (shape, color, or letter). Place different amounts of beads in each bag/container. These will be placed in a learning center. Make sure to have trays for students to dump the beads on for counting. Then, students can dump out the beads, count them, record the number of beads, and put them back for the next student.

3. Sort pony beads. Students can sort pony beads by color. This could be done in pairs or individually at a learning center. Small cups can be placed in the center with containers/bags of pony beads. Students will sort the beads into the cups.

4. Make patterns. Students could use the sorted beads from above to complete this activity. For this one, students will make patterns with the different colors, either on trays or on a pipecleaner. When the student threads the pattern onto a pipecleaner, it can be secured around their wrist to make a bracelet. That was a class favorite when I taught kindergarten!

Use Pony Beads in Reading

1. Make blending sticks for blending sounds together. These are made using a pipecleaner and beads. First, cut the pipecleaner in half. Then, thread 4 different-colored beads onto the pipecleaner. You can use a different number of beads, depending on the number of sounds you want students to be able to blend. I suggest not going above 5. Finally, bend the ends of the pipecleaner over, so the beads do not fall off.

You can choose to make enough for the whole class or make some for use with small groups. When students use the blending stick, I have them push all the beads to the right. Then, when the students say the sounds, they push a bead to the left for each sound. Last, they read the word by pushing the set of beads back to the right. I do it this way, so students are reading the word left to right.

2. Use pony beads to make reading pointers. I made what I call magic wand pointers by cutting a pipecleaner in half and adding two beads to the end. I pulled just enough pipecleaner through to wrap it underneath the 2nd bead, so they don’t fall off. Then, my students hold the end and point to the words with the beaded tip. You could, also, fancy them up by adding a star-shaped bead to the end!

3. Make a retelling bracelet. This could be done in a couple different ways. You could make it to retell a singular story or make it to remember a retelling strategy. For both ideas, each bead represents a part of the story. For the latter, seven beads would be used. There would be a bead for each step in the retelling process: characters, setting, problem, beginning, middle, end, and solution. For a few examples of how to use it with a specific story, check out these story bracelets from Dr. Jean and Friends.

Use Pony Beads for Crafts

1. Another rendition of a retelling bracelet is a thankful bracelet. This idea came from learningandlovingit on instagram. Here is the link to the thankful bracelet!

2. Let students make each other friendship bracelets during indoor recess. Your students will love being able to create their own bracelet any way they want to!

3. Pony beads can be used to make key chains. There are many different designs that can be made with pony beads, plastic lacing cord, and key rings. It’s all about how the beads are threaded onto the cord that creates the design. Here is a great tutorial from Artsy Fartsy Mama to make color-changing beaded lizard key chains. Here is a link for the color-changing beads that can be used.

Conclusion

So, the next time you’re cleaning out your kids’ closet and find a giant bag of random pony beads, jackpot! Put them to good use by bringing them to your classroom and trying out one or all of these 10 ideas to use pony beads in the classroom! If you loved this post, be sure to check out my post 5 of the Most Versatile Math Manipulatives! Plus with 100s Day right around the corner, take a peek at this post Ten Low-Prep 100s Day Centers!