It is so tempting to splurge and buy all the pretty materials, after all we are investing in our children’s education right? However so many of these materials are not used for long enough to justify their price tag. This material was one that I really wanted when Mr Man started showing interest in understanding larger numbers. This material provides a concrete way for children to understand numbers with more than one place value. I browsed through new materials, I searched through used ads. Everywhere I looked the price tag just seemed a little more than what the material was worth. To the dollar store I went! I ended up using a piece of foam board, some shelf liner, and some popsicle sticks to make my own seguin boards. It cost around $3 and took me under an hour. It may not be as pretty as the material I was looking to buy but it has the same function. Mr Man loves it, and I think that because he knows I made it for him he values it even more.