Money, Money, Money!

Over the years I've tried many different ways of teaching kids about coins and their values.  In my opinion, money is a hard concept because the coins are abstract; there is no rhyme or reason for the value of each coin. For an Earth Day activity this year I asked the children to bring in their old McDonald's toys that we would recycle.  Together we collected over 100 happy meal toys!  In class, each student has been earning coins for good behavior.  They've put their coins into a bank and count it at the end of each day.  Together we practiced counting it and used a program on the StarBoard as a visual reinforcement of the concept.  Yesterday the students were able to "buy" a new toy.  They were excited to choose a new toy and pay for it with money they earned.  I think it was a fun way to teach them about money and we will continue to shop for recycled toys throughout the year.

Here's a picture of the kids with their new toy!

Have you tried the game at home called, "If you can count it, you can keep it?"  It's pretty simple.  You hand your child a small amount of coins to be added together.  If they correctly count the amount they can keep it (put in their bank).  If they don't correctly identify the coins/values then you keep it.