Sorting, Counting, Stacking and Rolling Coins…a lesson in MONEY

My sister Penny told me about the money lesson she had planned for her kids.  I asked, oh so politely, if she would take a few pictures and do a little write up so I could share her great ideas with you!  Lucky me (and you) she wrote a weeks worth of posts, including a book review.  YIPPEE!  Thanks Pen.

Before a trip to our local zoo, S asked if we could go to the gift shop so she could buy something.  I told her she could if she wanted to use her own money.  Knowing that we would be going twice in one month(we are members, so we go at least once a month), I came up with a plan.  We took a pen and paper with us on our first trip to the zoo.  We walked through the gift shop and made a list of things that she wanted.  We put the price next to the item on the list.  When we got home we added up how much it would cost for the items she wanted.  We spent the next week preparing for our next trip to the zoo.

What you need:  a piggy bank full of coins, plastic bowls/containers, coin rolls(we got a huge stack of each denomination from our bank)

We started by emptying S and T’s piggy banks.  Their piggy banks were so full, that we emptied them a little at a time.  They sorted all the coins into plastic bowls.  Pennies in one bowl, nickels in another, etc.

Once all the coins were sorted, it was time to start counting and stacking.  This was such a cool process to watch.  Almost immediately after we started, S was counting by 2’s and 10’s.

By the time all the coins were stacked, S and T were totally over the whole process, so I took on the job of putting all the coins into rolls.

Tips to maximize learning:  1. Talk about what each coin is called and how much they are worth.  2. Talk about the differences and similarities between each coin.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to read about what we did with their rolled coins.