Best way to teach a 6 year old how to count money?

Question

my 6 year old is in 1st grade.. It seems they want them to learn much sooner than when I was in elementary school. He is having a bit of trouble understanding how to count money (change). any ideas on how to teach him a better simpler way? he understands the value of each coin, but gets confused when i put coins together to add them up. any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you!

Answer 1

Are you using US coins?

If so first make sure he can count by 25s (25 .. 50 .. 75 .. $1).  Then make sure he can add 10 or 5 to any number that's divisible by 5.  Then teach him to start with all the quarters, then do all the dimes, then all the nickels, and finally all the pennies.  An adult might sometimes do it differently, but that's usually the easiest way for a kid.

Answer 2

Try looking up money counting games on the internet!

Answer 3

use toy numbers and give a treat for the right answers

Answer 4

Play Jr Monopoly or set up a pretend register and play grocery store or bank.  Take turns being cashier and always give him play money so whatever he buys for pretend he has to pay you.  Also let him help you pay when you go to market.

Answer 5

Sounds like he might need more practice with addition. Make up a game to help him. Maybe you can find an online game. There's a game on practicalmoneyskills.com/life called Ed's Bank that might help.

Answer 6

You could give him a stack of coins and ask how many ways he could count out, say, 75 cents.   We had lots of worksheets this year (I have a first grader too) that dealt w/ money, and we would count things in order....all the quarters, then the dimes, etc.

Does he get allowance?  Start giving it to him in change.

When he gets to bills, play Monopoly.  The kids have to count the money but they don't realize they're learning.

Answer 7

use fake money to help him understand more clearly

Answer 8

does he have problems with addition? Because really that's all it is when you're counting money. He may need to see it and write it at the same time. For example: if you give him a penny, nickel, and a dime, have him write 1 + 5 + 10 on a sheet of paper. He should also place each coin above its corresponding value...then, have him add them up to get the answer.

He also needs to know subtraction to figure out how to get change back. You could do the same thing with that too. Give him a quarter and tell him his change is 10 cents. So he should place the quarter on the paper, write 25 and then say "you need to get 10 cents change" so that he knows he needs to put a minus sign. (25 - ). Then tell him, "how much will it cost if you get ten cents back" so he can write  25 - 10 = _______

It also helps to play games with him and pretend he is buying something from the store. You could set up a "shop" and give him play money to buy things. He might work up to buying a candy bar at a real store when he gets a hang of it.

Answer 9

use different foods or something like that.Like put 2 chocolate bars and marshmallows and use them in money form.Example there are 2 chocolate bars they stand for dollars if I add 3 marshmallows they stand for quarters how much do I have, that would be $1.75 cents.

Answer 10

play "store" with him alot during the summer. give him coins and set up items for him to buy , sometimes he could be the cashier and count out change. let him help at the store too. keep doing that and he will eventually get it.

Answer 11

me mother is a first grade teacher so i help her out in the afternoons she tells parents to just pull out change from there pockets and have them count it. if they are new introduce them to the coins 1 at a time. practice is the best thing you can do