Teen and Tens Board From Materials Everyday Materials

 I recently made a ten and teens "board" for my son out of random items that I keep on stock in the classroom.  Normally I try to make things more like the traditional items found in a Montessori classroom, but that takes time and money and he wanted to do the work right then.  So I wanted a cheap, easy, project to act as a stopgap until I could work on something better.   I already had  free printable materials from  montessoriforeveryone.com so I started with that.  The white paper on white background didn't quite do it for me.  It needed more.  Of course I always have construction paper, which was perfect for adding color. After I had color,  I just needed something to connect it and give it strength, for this I grabbed a folder.  Now, add scissors and glue and I had every thing I needed.

Making the number tiles and ten/teen frames
  I stuck to the traditional Montessori color associations for the place values through the use of construction paper glued to the bottom of my white paper (the printable materials).  This also worked toward adding more strength to the material.  I used green for the ones place movable number cards and a blue background for the tens/teens.  I cut the blue construction paper a bit larger than the the white paper tiles on the top and bottom to form a  frame to slide the ones cards through.  The frame look was achieved by simply folding the construction paper tabs up.

 I then glued the blue framed ten/teen to the folder ("board") and this was the result:

 Now I recognize these are not as nice looking as the wooden boards, but they are lighter, easier to manipulate and just as functional.  Most importantly my son loves them!