MONEY SMART GRADES PRE-K–2: Educator Guide

Lesson 1: Counting Coins

TOPIC: Understanding Currency

Overview

This lesson helps students build a foundational understanding of currency (money in its various forms) while engaging with coins in a hands-on, enjoyable way. Through children's literature, word problems, and activities like identifying, sorting, and counting coins, students begin linking the physical reality of coins and bills to the more abstract idea of using money to make purchases. Teachers can extend this exploration throughout the year using cross-curricular activities, both independent and in small groups.

Objectives

1. Describe the purpose of money
2. Examine and discuss the history of money
3. Explain ways money can be used
4. Identify, sort, and count coins and bills

Handouts

• Play Money

Teacher Presentation Slides

• Timeline: The History of Money
• Mixed Coins
• Story Problems: Counting Coins

Essential Questions

• What is money?
• What does money look like?
• How long has money been used?
• How does money look different today than in the past?
• Where can I use money?
• Where does money come from?
• How is money different in other places?

Assessment Activities

Pre-Assessment:

• Activity: Talking About Money
• Activity: The History of Money

Post-Assessment:

• Handout: Play Money
• Story Problems: Counting Coins slide
• Activity: Class Reflection

Time: 65 minutes

Supplies:

• One penny
• Chart paper
• Art supplies (crayons, colored pencils, markers, scissors, tape, glue)
• Projector (for teacher presentation slides)
• Internet access (optional)
• Suggested books (optional):
• One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money by Bonnie Worth
• The Penny Pot by Stuart J. Murphy
• The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
• If You Made a Million by David M. Schwartz

Preparation:

• Make copies of the student handout
• Set up the projector with presentation slides
• Review the glossary of key vocabulary

---

Getting Started

Begin by asking students what they already know about money.

Ask students: What is money?

After students share their ideas, explain that money is something people use to buy goods (such as food, books, and toys) or services (such as haircuts, doctor visits, and movies).

Show students a dollar bill and ask what it could buy. Then extend the question: what could $10 buy? What about $100? Ask students what items or services they would purchase and what each might cost. Create a running list on chart paper of their answers—such as specific games or foods—and encourage concrete examples.

MONEY SMART TIP!
Many young learners today mostly see money used digitally. They often watch adults pay with debit or ATM cards, or make purchases online, rather than handling cash. Because of this, students tend to judge a coin's value by its physical size rather than its actual worth. Teaching students to identify coins by appearance, size, name, and value gives them a chance to connect physical objects to the numbers and values they represent. This foundation will later help them understand the values behind digital currency and digital spending.

---

Instruction Steps

Warm-Up: Talking About Money (5 minutes)

Optional introductory game: Give each student a sticker or crayon, using a mix of styles or colors. Tell students they have two minutes to either keep their item or trade it with classmates. Afterward, ask: How many of you traded your item? How did you decide what to trade for? If you traded, do you value your new item more?

TEACHER TIPS:

• Look for grade-level modifications throughout this lesson to adapt activities for your students.
• Connect the concepts of borrowing and lending to everyday classroom routines. This gives young students a familiar, personal context for understanding these financial ideas.
• Make time to explore the literature and technology resources mentioned in the guided and extended activities.

The History of Money in the U.S. (10 minutes)

Display the Timeline: The History of Money slide, which shows how currency has changed over time. Explain that people originally exchanged goods and services directly through bartering—trading items and negotiating their value without using money. Give students an example: in the past, people might trade fish for rabbits, or baskets for blankets. Bartering lets people trade for what they want or need, but each person involved has to agree that the items being exchanged are of equal value.

Ask students: Have you ever bartered with a friend to trade items?

Explain that money has evolved over time because bartering could be slow and difficult—if someone didn't want what you had to offer, getting what you needed became a challenge. To make trading easier, people began using common items that everyone agreed had value, such as beads, shells, metals, or gems. Early forms of money came in many different sizes, shapes, and materials. Trading precious metals or gems required weighing and measuring them precisely. Today, that's no longer necessary because everyone uses a standardized currency. In the U.S., dollar bills are made of paper, and coins are made of metal. Paper currency features images of past presidents and other historical figures. Banks keep our money safe so we don't have to carry large amounts of cash, and people can access their bank accounts using debit or ATM cards, or by making purchases online.

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: Sort real-world items from the History of Money slide by similarities and differences (shells, coins, play money). Students can explain their sorting logic—for example, grouping items by color or material. This idea can extend to comparing how other things in the classroom or community change over time.

Grades 1–2: Have students build a timeline of money's history using the items shown in the slide. As a challenge, students can explore The Story of Money from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for more historical examples to add to their timeline: www.frbatlanta.org/about/tours/story-of-money.aspx

TIMELINE: The History of Money

• Past: Tea, spices, shells, beads
• Gems, precious metals, coins
• Present: Money today

---

Next, display the Mixed Coins slide so students can examine and identify details about modern coins. Ask them to describe the differences in size and imagery among the coins.

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: As a class, identify and name the coins shown (pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.). Students can also use bags of change to find and hold up the matching coin.

Grades 1–2: Have students select and circle or highlight two or more coins from the slide and calculate their combined value. Students may also explore currencies from other countries and compare them to U.S. money. It's worth noting that in many countries, paper bills come in different colors and sizes depending on their value.

Guided Exploration: Discovering the Purpose of Money (15 minutes)

After learning about money's history and viewing examples from the timeline, tell students they'll now create their own story about money. Give each student a piece of construction paper folded in half. On the top half, have them complete the sentence: "I would spend money today on ___________." On the bottom half, have them complete: "I would like to save money for ___________."

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: Help students by cutting out magazine pictures they can paste onto the paper instead of writing. They can also dictate their story aloud for a teacher or classroom volunteer to write down.

Grades 1–2: Have students write a short narrative using the sentence starters, plus this added prompt: What would you do if you found $10? What about $100?

Optional: Read One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money by Bonnie Worth aloud. As you read, ask students to share what the Cat in the Hat discovers about money. Students can also compare the book's illustrations to what they observed on the History of Money timeline slide.

Ask:

• What does money look like in different places?
• What was used as money in the past?
• How does it look different today?

Using Coins and Bills (20 minutes)

As a whole class, play "I Am Going on a Shopping Trip" to build a connection between coins, bills, and their value. Each student takes a turn completing the sentence: "I am going on a shopping trip, and I am going to buy _________."

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: Write each student's answer on chart paper, modeling the writing process aloud.

Grades 1–2: Before each student shares, have them repeat the previous student's answer first, adding a memory challenge to the game.

After praising the class for their ideas, give each student a Play Money handout along with art supplies so they can design their own bills. This handout can also be sent home as homework. Once finished, students can cut out their coins and bills to use for pretend shopping at home. Remind students that saving money is another way to use it.

Short video suggestion: Designing Money (PreK–2)—kids design, create, and name their own currency, deciding what it's worth. Also see Read a Good Book: Currency from the KIDS Clubhouse Adventures series, Iowa Public Television: https://whut.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/a8879ce0-5c0d-420a-8e11-72adf8f9adf0/read-a-good-book-currency-iptv-kids-clubhouse/

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: Have students practice scissor skills by cutting around the coins and their designed bill. Encourage them to describe the coins and bill as they cut, comparing their designs to how real coins and bills look and feel.

Grades 1–2: Have students examine images of U.S. bills alongside bills from other countries, noting differences in color and imagery (available online). Bills often use either warm colors—red, yellow, gold—or cool colors—blue, green, purple. Encourage students to design their bills using images representing people or places important to them, choosing either a warm or cool color scheme.

---

Wrap-Up

Class Reflection (5 minutes)

Ask students: What do you now know about money?

Invite students to share their answers. Use this discussion to check for understanding, and consider introducing extended learning centers for further exploration of the topic.

Counting Coins (10 minutes)

Give students small bags of real or play coins for whole-class problem-solving activities, such as pretend shopping trips or small purchases. This activity can be repeated throughout the year to help students grow more confident identifying cents and dollars. Note: Play coins should be larger than 2 inches in diameter to prevent choking hazards.

Grade-Level Modifications:

Pre-K–K: Practice sorting coins by size and color. Ask students to show you a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter. Have them count their pennies and share the total with a partner.

Grades 1–2: Practice sorting coins by value. Present a pretend shopping scenario and ask students to assemble that exact amount using coins, or to calculate change from a purchase.

Example: You had 50 cents and spent 30 cents. How much do you have left?

Students can also represent different numbers using coins or bills—for example, using cents to represent today's date.