Counting Coins Ready to Go!

This summer in Michigan has been the rainiest that I can remember. It's almost July and we've only had a couple sunny enough days to think about going poolside! But today since it's a rainy day, I'm going to give some attention to my blog. 

This is a quick one. I have a way to help your kids practice counting and exchanging coins. It's really not new and it's not mine. But it does work. You don't need to make any copies or laminate anything. I used real coins from home, but if you have decent fake money that will work too. I happen to think that the real is better because it helps them look at the coins and identify them better. (Especially with the many designs of the nickels and pennies!)

I used this with 2nd graders. However; other grades could use it too. Homeschoolers, and students with special needs could benefit from it. 

I love to recycle containers. Don't get me wrong I go crazy in container stores with all the bright yummy colors, but those cost $$$$. So this activity I used the salad bowls and lids from the @Wendy's salads. I also used the containers that the Carving Board lunch meats come in. I just soak off the labels and use Goo Gone to get the adhesive off.

 I put about 25 pennies in one container. And 8 quarters, 20 times, and 10 nickels in the other container. 

 Because the kids I know like to throw roll the dice too hard, I have them roll the dice inside one of the containers.

Once the students roll the one dice, they grab that many pennies and put them in front of them. The partner does the same.  When there isn't any or many pennies left, they can now make some trades for nickels or dimes. They will put the pennies back into the penny container to keep them separate from the silver. 

After several turns doing the pennies first, they'll be able to trade for quarters. The first one to get to a dollar is the winner. You can reward them with a play dollar bill, a special treat, or just the fact that they won. 

Repeat this as often as you'd like. You can also have them start with $1.00 and have them subtract from the $1.00 and try to get down to zero. This would require them to make trades also. 

Be sure to teach them how to do this so that they have more success with it. 

If you have done this or something similar I'd love to hear how you do it.