Days of Play: Money Jar

My daughter is learning about money in school and her progress report indicated she needed a bit more work in identifying coins by name and amounts.

So, being the good mom that I am, we played a game called "money jar."

To play, you need a money jar (with coins in it.  I know in this economy your money jar might be empty. I'm sorry), and a flat surface.

Dump all the coins onto your table and have your child sort the coins by size/shape.  Once the coins are in their right groups, go over the names and amounts.  M was having hard time with dimes.  Luckily she knows very rudimentary Spanish so I said, "what is ten in Spanish?"  She said, "Diez."  I said, "how much is this one (pointing to the dime) worth?" She said, "ten" to which I replied, that's right.  A dime has ten like diez is ten.  Dime Diez.  Dime Diez.

She totally gets dime now.

If you want to make this more difficult, pick a coin (for instance, a quarter) and have your child pick another stack of coins that equal that amount (5 nickels, 25 pennies, 2 dimes and 1 nickel).  M thought it was fun to group pennies in 10s and then "trade up" a stack of pennies for a dime or two nickels.

Now if you are feeling particularly adventurous, you could separate the coins into dollar stacks and take your kiddos for a treat; let your children pay in coins (use the quarters first--trust me).