Money Games and Activities

Money is such an important thing for kids to learn about and understand! It's truly a real life skill. Here are a few things that you can do at home to help your kids understand money:

These are books about money:
The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
If You Made a Million by David Schwartz (awesome book with all kinds of things you could talk about after reading this...)
Arthur's Funny Money
Follow the Money by Loreen Leedy
My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa Mollel
How Much is that Guinea Pig in the Window? By Joanne Rocklin

Activities:
1. Talk to kids about where money comes from and how important it is to save and to plan how to spend. Talk about how when you are paid, you then have to spend that money to pay bills, buy food and gas, etc. Read about or talk about different jobs that they might enjoy or be good at when they get bigger.

2. Get out playdough and some coins. Have them flatten out the playdough and then press 3-5 coins into the playdough to make imprints. Then they can either name which coins they are and what they are worth. Or they can add the coins to find the total. (For older kids, you could then have them subtract their total from a dollar or five dollars).

3. Play Coins in a Bag (takes 2 or more players): Put some coins in a bag. Players take turns pulling out a coin and saying the name of the coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar) and its value (1, 5, 10, 25 or 50 cents).
If they correctly name the coin and its value, they get to keep it. If not, they have to put it back in the bag. The first one to get 20 coins wins. To make this even more enticing, let your child actually keep the coins when they are done and then decide how to save/spend the money.

4. Play the harder version of coins in a bag (2 or more players): Put coins in a bag. Players take turns pulling out a coin and saying the name and value of the coin. After you reach 5 coins (or 3, 4, 6, 7 or 8--you decide), each person figures out how much money they have altogether. The person who gets the highest total wins and keeps both people's money. OR you could say the person who gets closest to a dollar without going over gets to keep both piles of money (or they just WIN! They don't have to keep the money.) Play 2 or 3 times.

5. Race for a Quarter: Take turns with partner rolling a die. The number on the die tells you how many pennies you get. When you get five pennies, trade them for a nickel. When you get two nickels, trade for a dime. If you get two dimes and a nickel, trade for a quarter. You must exchange during your turn. Once you pass the die to the next person, you can't trade. Keep playing until you can trade four quarters for a dollar.

6. What's in my pocket? Tell your child/partner that you have some coins in your pocket (under $1). They need to guess what is in your pocket by listening to the clues you give. You might tell them how many coins are in your pocket or that the total is between 50 and 75 cents. You might tell them the total and make them figure out what combination of coins you have for that total. As they make guesses, you mioght tell them if their guess was high or low.

7. Giving an allowance...even if it's just a small amount... can be a great real life way for kids to learn about money. They can then have responsibilities, like they have to save one dime for every dollar they earn or they have to buy their own candy at the store.

8. Shel Silverstein has a great poem about money called Smart found in Where the Sidewalk Ends. You might want to read it together, memorize it, talk about it and whether the child really was smart and why/why not.

9. Song about money:
Sing to tune of 10 Little Indians:25, 50, 75, a dollar; 25, 50, 75, a dollar; 25,50, 75, a dollar, Four quarters makes a dollar.

Hope these ideas will help you and your child to see how fun money is and to help them get a better understanding of money.