Teaching Children About Money

Teaching children about money involves teaching five main concepts: teaching what money is, the denominations of currency, why money is important, how money is used in everyday life, and how to count money. Teaching children about money is multidisciplinary: lessons about money involve social studies, mathematics, economics, literature, and other disciplines. Teaching children the denominations of coins and bills leads naturally to counting exercises. After children can add and subtract the value of coins and bills, they can learn about saving money, using money to make purchases, and making a personal budget. Personal economics can prepare students to learn about economics in general and how money is used in government and business.

Children begin learning about money before school begins. Toddlers and preschoolers learn from their parents that money can be exchanged for toys, food, and other items in stores, but they often do not know the number of bills or coins needed or their value. Teachers can draw on this knowledge to introduce the values of coins and bills and relate their value to items that children recognize, such as candy, toys, or movie tickets.

Preschool and kindergarten students learn how to identify coins by color, texture, size, and value. Using fake money and coins can help students learn to identify different denominations and their value. Children can learn the basic concept of using money to buy items through role playing a store situation. Students learn that a toy truck costs three quarters, or that a pencil costs two nickels. When students are able to correctly identify coins and their value, teachers can introduce paper money and relate it to coins by visually showing students how many pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters equal the value of a dollar bill. Problems become more complex as students learn to combine coins and bills to reach certain values. Using children’s’ books and poems can help students learn how money is used in everyday life and provide a starting point for a lesson on money.

After children learn to recognize the different denominations of coins and bills, teachers can use money to teach and reinforce age-appropriate math concepts. The addition and subtraction of coins leads to decimals and fractions in later grades. After children have mastered addition and subtraction, teachers can use those concepts to teach about savings accounts and how they are used. Children can learn about income and spending and learn to make a personal budget.

Resources and Lesson Plans

• Teaching Ideas for All Ages: Ideas for teaching children what money is, what it is used for, and how to use it from pre-school to high school.
• Money Lessons: Lesson plans and online games to teach children about money.
• Teaching with “Lunch Money”: Lesson plans on the value of money, savings, and economic concepts for grades 3 to 6 using the book “Lunch Money”.
• Teaching Money with Poetry: Lesson plans for teaching children how to count money and recognize different coins and bills using a Shel Silverstein poem.
• Counting Coins: A lesson plan for counting coins, for use in kindergarten and first grade.
• E-book Lesson Plan: A coin recognition and counting lesson plan for kindergarteners using an electronic book. Includes real-world activities.
• Recognizing Coins: A lesson plan using a children’s book and manipulatives to teach children to recognize coins and bills and to count them.
• Coins: Lesson plans and online and off-line resources for teachers and students on coins, how they are made, recognizing and distinguishing denominations, and counting money.
• Money Lesson Plans: Lesson plans to teach what money is, how to recognize denominations, and how money is used.
• Money Math: Teaching ideas for third to fifth grade teachers on using money to teach estimation and rounding.
• Economics: Money and economics lessons for kindergarten and first grade teachers.
• Berenstain Bears’ Money Lesson: A lesson to teach the value of money using a Berenstain Bears book.
• Managing Money: An online mini-course on money management; can be adapted for teacher use.
• Economics Lessons: Lessons for various grades on money and economic concepts.
• Budgets: A lesson plan for teaching students about budgets and how to create one.
• Economics and Money Lessons: Elementary-level lesson plans about money and economics.
• Money and Decimals: A lesson plan using coins and money to teach decimals.
• Multiplication and Money: A lesson plan using money to teach multiplication and measurement.
• Shopping Math: A lesson plan to teach children how to add and subtract money and use decimals.
• How Money is Used: A lesson plan to teach students how money is used in the real world.