What the heck do you do with an abacus?

[greenthumb3]

I recall having one at home when I was little and remember enjoying playing with it. I have had one here at home for our family to use for a while and have no clue what to do with it. The kids sometimes walk by and pick at it, but I wish there was something I could do with them. I just have no idea! Silly? Maybe.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and all I could find was the many cultures who use/d an abacus and that it has 100 beads on it.

Any ideas?

[Whistler]

Try starting here. http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/pages.htm

[tankgirl73]

An abacus is a fabulous visual and physical tool for understanding how numbers/quantities work. You can learn about place value and addition and multiplication and subtraction and division and fractions and percents and and and...

RightStart math uses an abacus as the single most important, primary and foundational manipulative. You can get nice abacuses from them as well as activity guides for the abacus even if you don't use their full curriculum.

About the program itself: http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=265
Online interactive abacus: http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=321
Basics of using an abacus and why: http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=315
Their nice wooden abacus (they have several others as well):http://www.activitiesforlearning.com...PROD&ProdID=23
Manual for abacus activities: http://www.activitiesforlearning.com...PROD&ProdID=38

We just started using RS last fall with DS when he was 10. Even as an older kid, the abacus helped a TON with some math concepts he'd had trouble really understanding before (ie, he could "do the math" but didn't really internally grasp it).

DD has an abacus too, though the beads are multicoloured instead of the 5's-group colour-coding that the ALabacus has (which I think is brilliant). It's just a Melissa and Doug one that I've had for years, but DS was never interested in (I think it's the 5's that made the difference for him). Anyway, she still enjoys counting the beads on it, moving them around. She can still start to get the idea of counting in 10s, until she's ready for the "big leagues" and full-on RS math.

[sapphire_chan]

I don't like that that abacus can't go above 100. Although it's great for smaller numbers, it doesn't help with place values which is, imo, one of the great strengths of the abacus.

[Quickbeam]

I want to answer, "Give it to your kid and let her figure it out."

[cloudswinger]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

I don't like that that abacus can't go above 100. Although it's great for smaller numbers, it doesn't help with place values which is, imo, one of the great strengths of the abacus.

The rightstart abacus can be used to display place values, it's marked on the back side. But basically you use the individual rows as digits. They turn it vertically, so that the beads are going up and down.

[tankgirl73]

What abacus can't be used for place value? There are many different ways to use an abacus. The basic way is, indeed, to use each bead to represent "1". But you can also use each row to represent a different place value, and you use trading and balancing to do sums, multiplication, etc.

The RS abacus, as cloudswinger mentioned, has the markings on the backside to help you with vertical use (place value), but TECHNICALLY speaking the markings aren't necessary, they're just a help while you're learning it.

I can't think of any standard abacus that has more than 100 beads. What abacus were you thinking of that's "great for place value" that is somehow different than this one? The only difference that I know of with this one, is how it marks off groups of 5. Which makes it VERY fast and easy to instantly visualize and calculate how many beads you're dealing with -- whether you're using it 1-for-1 or place-value methods.

Of course, the chinese abacus is a different beast altogether. Still very useful, of course, but at least to me it's slightly more complicated.

[Just Elsa]

Spend 4 hours running around chinatown looking for one? Sorry, not helpful.

It's a calculator. I'd google instructions for using it because at least the ones that came with ours were a brave attempt at English by someone who was not fluent and did not make sense.

[greenthumb3]

Thanks for all the replies! It is the kind of abacus that is color coded by 5's and does not have anything written on the back. My kids are relatively young, 4, 6, and 2, so I'm keeping these ideas in mind for them. For some reason, trying to use the abacus and thinking of math has me boggled, so I am trying out the suggestions here and see if I can acquaint myself with this thing a bit more and share with my oldest two what I learn. And, yes, they will keep playing with it and figuring out their own ideas. Thanks everyone

[AmandaGRB]

Ummmm, OP, just so you don't feel like you are the only one, I don't get it either. It just doesn't make sense to me and any time I have tried to use it, I just end up feeling like it was a waste of my time. Maybe this is why RS math did not work for us. My son doesn't get the abacus either.

Amanda

[rahrahgobg]

The abacus is a great tool for learning how to count, add, subtract and multiply. It's a great visual

I taught my 5YO how to count to 100 on it. It helped him count to 100 by 10's.

Great for something to have as a counter for adding or subtracting. Use it when you do math, and they can use that instead of their fingers.

I have the Melissa & Doug one. My little ones like to just play with the beads on it.

It gets played with a lot one way or another.

USE IT!!!!

[greenthumb3]

Originally Posted by rahrahgobg

The abacus is a great tool for learning how to count, add, subtract and multiply. It's a great visual

I taught my 5YO how to count to 100 on it. It helped him count to 100 by 10's.

Great for something to have as a counter for adding or subtracting. Use it when you do math, and they can use that instead of their fingers.

I have the Melissa & Doug one. My little ones like to just play with the beads on it.

It gets played with a lot one way or another.

USE IT!!!!

Hm...yeah, I can see us using it to count by tens...my oldest has been talking about that concept with me, but still prefers to count by 1's...so, that would provide a terrific visual way to show him what I explain to him.
Great ideas! Sometimes I just need a nudge in the right direction...

[cappuccinosmom]

I love our abacus! It's a great math manipulative.

We start with counting. The 2 yo likes to practice counting by ones using the beads.

Because it's set up in 10s, it's easy to teach counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's visually.

It's also usful for teaching multiplication. It's basically like a 100's table without the numbers. If you bring two over from the top line, and two over from the line underneath it, you have a visual of 2x2.

[dharmama]

:

[Mizelenius]

I thought, with RS, that the abacus was used so that you could see things in groups of 5, since (according to what I read) that's as high as a human brain can typically instantly recognize as a group. (RS people-- did I explain this correctly?)

I think it's a great visual tool.

[Fairy4tmama]

in Addition to what pp have mentioned we also make letters and pictures with ours. Oh yeah it is also frequently some type of control mechenism for any make belive game involoving ships, cars or computers