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This site has many different printables that can be used for counting and identifying coins while use real coins as manipulatives in the classroom.

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Teaching money is a lot of fun because there are so many money games for kids and, best of all, kids are so excited to learn how to count coins and make change so engagement is at an all-time high.

First things first, you want to teach them the actual coins. I think a really easy way to do this is to give students coin manipulatives and introduce each one. Have them each pick up a penny and have them examine it, look at the front and back, and tell them it is worth 1 cent. Walk around to make sure each student is holding the right coin. Ask them what they notice about it. Do this for each coin until you've talked about each coin. You could do a quick practice/assessment at the end of your lesson by saying things like, "Hand a quarter to your partner!" "Grab 2 pennies!" in a quick, fun fashion.

Once you've gone over all of the coins, give each table/group/partners the sorting mats for each coin and a lot of coin manipulatives to sort onto the mats. You could also make this an independent center or do it in small groups.

I also like to add posters to the math wall so they can reference them when they need help.

They can practice distinguishing between coins with cut and paste work where they color the coin and then sort it into the correct box. Coloring it the correct color, copper (brown crayon is fine) or silver, will also help them internalize the difference so I recommend starting with the sorts that have a penny. I made one to sort each type of coin (pennies/nickels, pennies/dimes, pennies/quarters, nickels/dimes, nickels/quarters, etc.). Each one comes in FRONTS only so they just have to recognize it by the front of the coin and also a fronts and backs version where they're sorting the same coin no matter what side is showing. Start with the fronts only and then do the fronts/backs versions to scaffold it.

Simple coin distinguishing tasks like "Color by..." type worksheets are great for practicing identifying coins with help.

As you know, I'm just a big fan of cutting and pasting activities because it has the hands-on sort component without all the prep and kids really have to think about where they place things because they see glue as so permanent. :)

Once they know the front and back of the coin pretty well, you could add in the extra element of value.

Another super fun way to practice coin identification is to use MAZES!
For these students are looking for a certain coin (in this example, a penny) and they color their way to the end of the maze!

Instead of coloring, you could have them use coin manipulatives to cover up the coin they're looking for to complete the maze. Any time you can make learning hands on and tactile, that's a plus! :)

Speaking of hands on and tactile, we all know I LOVE DICE. Dice is just the best. It makes any concept seem like a game.

I made coin dice so students can roll and cover the coin they rolled.

As you can see, they are simply rolling the dice and coloring in that coin. It's a great center they can play by themselves OR play with a partner. To play with a partner, they each need their own mat. Then, they each take turns rolling the dice and coloring in that coin on their mat. If there aren't any left of that coin, they don't color anything in and it's their partner's turn. Whoever can color in their entire mat first wins.

I also made BACKS versions of the mats so you can have them roll the FRONTS dice but have to figure out which BACK it is to color it in. This is awesome practice for matching fronts/backs as the same coin which can be a hard skill but with a game like this, they won't realize it.

If you notice above, you can also use coins to cover the coin you just rolled instead of coloring it. This is nice because it is tactile for students and makes the mats reusable over and over.

I really don't think you can have too many centers and practice. The more kids do themselves and presented in different ways, the more they absorb.

This is a simple match center. They can match just the front of the coin and the name if you want to keep it simple. You can add in the backs too or the value... however you want. I also included little blank squares so you can write in any other coin facts (who's on the coin, etc.) you want them to sort.

PUZZLES!!! Obviously! What kind of Miss Giraffe's Class math post would this be without puzzles? :D

The above version is a little easier and this is the 4 piece version which is slightly more challenging. I try to differentiate absolutely everything but keep it looking somewhat the same so it's not obvious but everyone gets what they need.

Another fun center for identifying coins is Grab & Graph!

Give students a little bucket of coins and some sort of scoop like a small measuring cup that will allow them to get 3-6 of each coin so they can scoop, sort their coins, then color in the bar graph to show their scoop. They can do it twice (or 4 times if you copy the recording sheet back to back).

This is a great way to integrate some graphing practice in as well! I also made a data analysis sheet for students up for the challenge to answer questions about their graph. To make it even more challenging for your really high kids, you can copy it front to back so they analyze both grabs.

I think it's so important to integrate concepts any time you can to build those connections which brings me to.... skip counting with coins!

Your students most likely practice skip counting during calendar or morning meeting so hopefully they can count by 5s and 10s because that will SO come in handy when adding like coins like nickels and dimes.

I recommend pulling them into small groups and using coin manipulatives to have them practice counting pennies, nickels, and dimes by 1s, 5s, and 10s. Give them a pile of pennies and have them count as a group 1, 2, 3, 4.. etc. as they push each coin out of their pile. Then do the same thing with a pile of nickels and count 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. pushing a nickel out of their pile into its own pile as they say each number. Then do the same with dimes and counting by 10. This can be really difficult for some kids but if they already can skip count and are seeing that each coin is worth that much by physically moving it, it'll help a ton!

So those of you who know me know that I provide 3 levels of every worksheet in my math units - level B is on level and should be appropriate for most of your students, level A is for those who need a little extra help or less overwhelming work, and level C is for those students who crave a challenge.

Above shows 3 levels of the same worksheet. Level A (blue dimes) has less coins on the page, they're bigger, and the amounts are smaller for them to color in that amount in dimes. Level B (green dimes) has more dimes and bigger amounts. Level C they write in the amount themselves. Encourage them to count by 10s as they color in each dime. They can even write counting by 10s above the coin for extra support if that helps them, like I showed in the Level C example.

Here are the pennies...

I made the 3 levels for all of the coins...

I really recommend A LOT of practice with adding like coins (only adding pennies) before you start having them add mixed coins. If they can really master adding like coins, it'll make it much easier.

I wanted to provide a ton of practice so I made this adding like coins center where they grab a card, add it up, and write the amount in cents on their recording sheet.

There are 9 cards in a set labeled A-I and I also made a recording sheet to write them all down, as well as an easier recording sheet with letters A-F if you want to give struggling students only 6 cards to do at a time.

I made a full A-I set for every coin (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters) so there are 4 different centers. I definitely recommend doing all 4 of the centers (separately, on different days) to get all that practice in.

This, I think, is really important...
When teaching adding like coins, I think it's best to start with adding pennies and have all of your activities/centers/worksheets be JUST adding pennies until they fully master it.

Once they master pennies, move onto nickels and all of your worksheets/centers/activities are adding nickels and counting by 5s. Then dimes, then quarters. If you have them doing them all right away, you'll confuse them. When you first introduce the concept, you can show them how different coins have different values and how you'll be learning all of them but I would practice just one at a time, each until mastery.

Once you're done practicing all 4 of the coins, these also make a good review center. Mix and match them to make a bunch of different review centers. Just make sure you only have one card for each letter A-I (or A-F with the easier recording sheet) and it's an instant review math station.

Another fun way to practice adding like coins is with cut and pastes.

They color all the pennies then glue them into the boxes to make each amount. I made them for each coin but, again, I recommend focusing on adding 1 type of coin at a time.

I also bring back the Adding Coins center again but this time with mixed coin cards!
It's always nice to have familiar centers for a new, harder skill so they're comfortable with how to do it and can just focus on the math part of it. :)

Same with cutting and pasting activities...
These are a format they're already used to but with a bit of a harder skill (mixed coins rather than like coins):

So they cut out the coins at the bottom and build the number. A good way to teach them is to sort their coins by value and use as many of the biggest value coins as they can before they have to switch to the next value down (for example, use quarters to make the number as high as possible without going over until they need to switch to dimes or nickels). Like I said, this is a super challenge.

As you know from my how to keep gifted learners engaged and learning post, I care a lot about challenging the high kids and not just sending them off to do something else when they're done so this is a perfect thing for your super high kids to do while the other kids are learning.

Other great challenges for your high kids are comparing the values of sets of coins. This is a great skill for any of your kids but it can be challenging.

You can have them determine which set of coins has a greater value using the greater than, less than, or equal to symbols which is a great way to integrate and practice that skill!

You can also have them take 2 sets of the same coin to see which is greater. This is a concrete way for them to see that you can have more coins but less value depending on what coins they are. For example, you have 8 pennies so you have more coins technically but the value is less than 3 nickels. Have them pick those amounts out in coin manipulatives to count and compare them before they decide which is bigger.

aaaaaaand last but not least.... money word problems!!

I think their ability to solve money word problems is the most important part of all of this because it's what they'll encounter in real life.

Students match the 3 parts of each word problem: the word problem, its representation in coins, and the sum/answer.

Once they match the 3 parts, they write the sum in the circle that has the same letter as the one on the corner of the word problem card. Is it weird that I like word problems?? Oh well, I never claimed to be normal. :) I always make word problems very readable with easy words so that students can focus on the math and not get caught up in the words they don't know. I get so frustrated (and so do students) by word problems with hard to decode words. Like, did Beatrice really need to take 7 hot air balloon rides and 3 catamaran excursions in Paris.. or could we just say that Pam has 7 cats and 3 dogs and make it easier for everyone involved instead? :P

At the end of every unit is the test, of course! I always make 3 versions (same difficulty, different problems) so there are 3 money assessments:

Phew! I hope that helps you with some fun ways to use this unit or to teach money to your littles!

If you want these activities, EVERYTHING you saw in this post is in my GIANT Money Math Unit:

I also have this unit in a
UK coins version and an Australian coins version and a Canadian coins version!

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Building Number Sense
Place Value
Telling Time

Adding 3 Numbers
Making a 10 to Add

Fact Fluency Composing Shapes

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Teaching money is a lot of fun because there are so many money games for kids and, best of all, kids are so excited to learn how to count coins and make change so engagement is at an all-time high. First things first, you want to teach them the actual coins.

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These are clip cards that can be used in the classroom for practice in counting coins and for learning about the different coins.

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Kids will have fun practicing counting coins and learning American money: quarter, dime, nickel,and penny with these FREE printable coin value clip cards . This is such a fun, no-prep money activity for 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade kids.

Click here for more free math resources for homeschoolers !

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Kids will have fun practicing counting coins and learning American money: quarter, dime, nickel,and penny with these FREE printable coin value clip cards . This is such a fun, no-prep money activity for 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade kids. Click here for more free math resources for homeschoolers !

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This is an activity where students can learn to count, collect, exchange, and make change for coins.

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Learn how to count, collect, exchange, and make change for coins by manipulating coins using an array representation.

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This website has a list of 26 money games and activities. These are great games that can be used in the classroom, but also can be shared with parents to do sometime with the students at home.

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If your Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade child is learning about money, they need lots of hands on practice to not only learn the coins, but to be able to add up sums of money too. Here are 26 fun money games and kids activities to help!

Fun Money Games for Kids

Make learning about money fun! Whether your child is just learning the coin names, what they are worth, or adding up money - there is a fun money game and activity to reinforce the concept.

All the following math games and activities are ideas to do at home or FREE printable games.Money is usually learned in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.

For fun, NO PREP math practice, see our 2000+ page of free math worksheets

Money Games for Kids

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If your Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade child is learning about money, they need lots of hands on practice to not only learn the coins, but to be able to add up sums of money too. Here are 26 fun money games and kids activities to help!

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This is a digital story that a student can watch to learn about different coins' worth and how to add coins together.

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Counting Coins lesson for Kindergarten or 1st grade by Katie Buttweiler

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In this digital story, students are invited to learn about the different coin's worth and how to add coins together.

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This video will teach the student how to identify coins and how much each is worth.

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This website includes many different games about coins. Some games address coin counting, ordering coins by value, and a piggy bank game. This would be an interactive way for students to count coins.

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Educational for Kids' Early Learning | Education.com

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Award winning educational materials like worksheets, games, lesson plans and activities designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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This site has a free download of a money mini-book. This book would be a great visual for students to reference when counting money.

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This covers the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar with a visual of how many you need to make 100. This is great for Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade kids.

Click here for more free math resources for homeschoolers !

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This covers the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar with a visual of how many you need to make 100. This is great for Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade kids. Click here for more free math resources for homeschoolers ! comments

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The students will be able to identify U.S. coins, write the symbols for coins, and understand the value of coins through the use of activities, videos, manipulatives, and technology.

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1.4 (A) identify U.S. coins, including pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, by value and describe the relationships among them;
1.4 (B) write a number with the cent symbol to describe the value of a coin; and
1.4 (C) use relationships to count by two, fives, and tens to determine the value of a collection of pennies, nickels, and/or dimes