How to Teach Money Concepts

We don’t need a curriculum for everything. Some skills are learned naturally, organically. In fact, sometimes the learning happens amid our days and we miss it.

Some concepts are best taught and retained from experience with real-life objects.

Money is one of those topics.

The best way to understand money is to use it—take if off the page, get your hands on it, and practice the skills.

For children, preschool through elementary, learning money concepts will look like

Coin recognition - My husband’s spare change hangs out on the counter or in the console of the car. Most of our children have found it, eventually, inquiring, “May I have this?” There’s interest and engagement—a perfect combination for retention. A simple explanation—”This is a penny. This is a dime. This is a nickel. This is a quarter.”— while placing the coin in the child’s hand will effectively teach coin identification. Next time the coins are laying around, review the concept. If the child has a piggy bank or other collection container, empty the contents, sort the coins, and review the coin names. Coin recognition can be that simple, and it will stick.

Coin value - Maybe your child already knows the coin names and is ready to associate values— “A penny is one cent. This is a dime, it’s worth ten pennies. It’s ten cents.” This concept will take some time and practice to master, but again, with real coins and a piggy bank, there’s an undercurrent of interest.

Coin addition - Once the child recognizes the coin and it’s value, there’s almost an automatic need to be able to “find out home much I have”. Here begins the understanding of adding money—combining two groups. To move with the interest, place two or three coins in your learner’s hand. Add one from your hand and add the total of the two coins. Write the corresponding addition equation on a piece of paper so the child can associate the actual coins, their value, and the symbols of the equation. Start with pennies for the youngest learners and move to greater values, hence addition of two digits.

Calculated change - Once the concept of coin addition has been mastered, it’s time to tackle the concept of change—what will be given back after a purchase. The difference. We found this concept was easy to learn while playing store or working with oral problems. For example, “I have three quarters and want to buy this pencil for $0.65. What change will I receive back from the cashier?” Of course, the youngest learners will be best served using pennies and then moving to larger amounts.

Saving and Spending Real-Life Practice

Aside from playing store and counting money in a piggy bank, we give a few coins (maybe two dimes, a quarter, four nickels) every once and awhile, random amounts--could be a quarter or two dimes, whatever. We tell the child the money is his or hers and they can do with it what they choose. They quickly figure out if they save it, it adds up. The process naturally brings questions, everything from savings to buying houses to investing. Real money is a motivator. We do this for an entire school year because the lessons are so valuable. They are real world lessons of being faithful with little and being given much. The process also gives us the ability to see which of your children have a tendency to spend, give and save. It’s a window into their minds and hearts. They’ve all been different.

Playing Games

Games have offered opportunity to learn and practice money skills with larger amounts. Among the favorites are

• Allowance

• Monopoly

• Monopoly Jr.

• Life

This is just a sampling of ways real money aids in cementing important math skills and financial concepts, beginning with the youngest learners.

Those coins on your counter or in your console? Wonder and learning await. In fact, learning is likely happening and it’s waiting to be fostered.

Keep learning intentional and real and it will be remembered.

How to Use What You Have: Counting

We’ve adopted a phrase.

Use what we have to boost what we know.

Could mean one of two things.

Use the resources and items we have to learn something new.

Or

Use the resources and items we have to deepen or reinforce knowledge we learned previously.

Today, my mind is on counting!

Everywhere I look in my home there’s numbers—groups and sets. That’s how I want my children to understand numbers, counting—as part of every day. Last week I recorded a workshop - Math Never Tasted So Good—for the Keep Calm & Homeschool On Conference. I love encouraging families to help their children see math in the world. I reflected on the portion of the workshop which focused on counting.

Counting with little learners.

Counting crackers, rocks, trains, or whatever exists in the learner’s environment today leads to understanding of set notation, number operations, and more in the years to come.

How can I use what I have to foster or reinforce this skill?

Use Real. A vested interest sweetens the learning pot. If you think about it, this is true for adults as well. When you want to learn something or have something to gain, the motivation raises the need to master the skill. Where there is an interest or gain, there’s reason to learn. Find out what matters to your children and start there. Think cars, crackers, acorns, crayons, whatever can be counted or made into groups.

Skills

• Count to five by one.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Make piles (sets or groups) of one, two, three, four, and five.

• Count to ten by one.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Make piles (sets or groups) of ten.

• Count to twenty by one.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Count by two to twenty.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Make piles (sets or groups) of ten and use those groups to count by tens.

• Use dimes to count by ten.

• Count by ten to one hundred.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Use nickels to count by five.

• Count by five to one hundred.

  • Write those numbers in order.

• Count by 100.

Keep it Real Activities

• Count the oranges in the two pound bag.

• Count the bananas in a bunch.

• Count a specific number of carrots to clean and cook for a meal.

• Count cars as they are put away for the day.

• Set the table - practice one-to-correspondence and counting table guests.

• Count the slices in a pizza.

• Count the tiles across the kitchen floor.

• Use snack crackers to make piles of two. Count by two.

• Make a number scavenger hunt.

• Play hopscotch - write the numbers and then count while hopping.

Counting and Reading Aloud. Counting books have cycled in and out of our home in our learning seasons with littles. Decades as little learners intentional about conquering counting concepts have helped to grow our list of favorites. Noticing some of our favorites are disappearing from the library shelves, I have intentionality purchased copies to add to our home library so we don't lose our loves. 

• How Many Snails? Rich, bold vibrant colors invite little learners to jump in and count! Though counting is the main skill reinforced, attributes, following directions, and processing fair well, too. One of our favorites! Author: Paul Giganti, Jr. 

• The M&M Counting Book. The familiar candies on the front draw readers to the content. Once opened, this book teaches counting through 12, counting sets, and beginning addition and subtraction. Author: Barbara Barbieri McGrath

• Counting is for the Birds. The rhyming text makes this brilliantly illustrated counting-to-twenty book an all-time favorite of ours. Author: Frank Mazzola, Jr.

• Cardinal Numbers: An Ohio Counting Book. Counting 1-14 with beautiful illustrations and real-world word problems on the last pages, this book is one of many in the Sleeping Bear Press series. A favorite for older children, too, as side bars on each page offer additional opportunities for curious learners. Author: Marcia Schonberg

• Great Estimations. An intriguing look at estimating as an advanced counting technique. Great photography, fun examples, and helpful hints for counting objects in large numbers. Great for older learners, too! Author: Bruce Goldstone.

• The Coin Counting Book. Counting takes another journey into the world of coin recognition and value. Great for beginner coin counters who have a piggy bank of coins waiting to be counted.  Another of our favorites due to the interest most kids have in money. Author: Rozanne Lanczank Williams.

• Eating Pairs: Counting Fruits and Vegetables by Two. Reading and learning odds and evens go hand-in-hand with this unique counting book. We love that the numbers are written down the side bar of each page, begging for us to count along...again! Author: Sarah L. Schuette.

• 10 Little Rubber Ducks. Fictionalized counting story of a real-life event presented alongside the classic Eric Carle collage art. Bright illustrations and a intriguing story line. Great addition to the home library, for sure! Author: Eric Carle.

Make a Counting Book. Grab an old magazine, weekly grocery ad, or catalog, cut out groups of objects and make a counting book.

Opportunities for learning and practicing counting skills abound in our days. How can we be intentional, real, and relational about those moments?