- Set up a Grocery Store! A little extra work, but lots of fun!
- Collect & clean empty cereal, pudding, cracker boxes, milk cartons, juice bottles, egg cartons, yogurt tubs.
- Attach a $1, $2 or $3 price tag to each item.
- Print out fake money on green paper & collect extra pennies to use for cash.
- Help the kids make a simple wallet (I used 1/4 sheet paper & taped the sides) & write their name on the front. Give the kids some pennies & dollar bills.
- Let them go shopping with grocery bags
- Be the cashier (take turns with them) and add up their total. We have used a flashlight or a blinking red bike light as a scanner. Help them count out the money. Give them some change & let them restock the shelves.
- Look at the weekly grocery ad. Cut out the items you will be buying, glue to a paper & let the kids mark their "list" as you do your grocery shopping.
- Read "Just Shopping with Mom" by Mercer Mayer
- Use a muffin tin to sort coins. Show the kids the differences in color and size and the smooth/bumpy edges.
- Buried Treasure Hunt
- Hide several coins in a sand table or large tub full of rice.
- Let the kids dig for coins.
- When they find one, have them sort it in muffin tins or even small wooden treasure chests (from a craft store) with a penny, nickel, dime or quarter glued on the front!
- Great books to read! Click each one to see a description from Amazon.
- Set up a play “grocery store” and buy things with fake money … this was a hit in our house.
- Collect & clean empty cereal, pudding, cracker boxes, milk cartons, juice bottles, egg cartons, yogurt tubs.
- Attach a $1, $2 or $3 price tag to each item.
- Print out fake money on green paper & collect extra pennies to use for cash.
- Help the kids make a simple wallet (I used 1/4 sheet paper & taped the sides) & write their name on the front. Give the kids some pennies & play dollar bills.
- Let them go shopping with grocery bags
- Be the cashier (take turns with them) and add up their total. We have used a flashlight or a blinking red bike light as a scanner. Help them count out the money. Give them some change & let them restock the shelves.
- Let the kids earn money this week & go to the store to buy something with their own money!
- Set up a system that works for you to let the kids earn money! My boys can earn a dime for their morning chores and another for their evening chores.
- Give them opportunities to earn different coin amounts … pennies for little jobs, dimes or quarters for big job.
- Piggy Bank Penny Toss
- Print out a large piggy bank clipart to use for a Math Mat. Click the image above if you’d like to use that one!
- Toss five pennies onto the math mat.
- Count the heads and tails.
- Coin Matching Pages … cute, printable coin matching pages here. The truck wheels are pennies (match real pennies on top), the bus headlights are dimes and the train wheels are a quarter, nickel and penny. Then color the page!
- Candy Store
- Fill a large jar with pom-poms (candy). Or let each child have their own jar full of pom-pom candy.
- Make money cards by hot-gluing real pennies to squares of chipboard or cardstock. Or add coin stickers to index cards.
- Let your preschooler draw a card and “purchase” the same amount of gumballs by taking them from the jar … 5 pennies on the card = 5 gumballs from the jar.
- Play until the jar is empty!
- Make money magnets. Hot glue a magnet to the back of several coins … pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters.
- Let the kids play with these during the week. Or practice money names and counting.
Snack Idea: Snack Bar!
- Have several types of individually wrapped snacks, labeled with a price.
- Give the kids small wallets (or ziploc baggies) with pennies.
- Allow them to “buy” their own snack & drink!