How To Teach Children To Count Money & Make Change

Are you new to homeschooling or maybe you have been doing it awhile but you are looking for a creative way to teach your elementary aged children about money.

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Counting money, making change and budgeting are valuable skills all children need to learn. It can be kind of boring or hard to grasp the concept if the only exposure they get when learning about this is from worksheets or online.

What has worked very well with my children when they were learning about money was to use actual money and create their own store right in the comfort of our home! 

Today I'm going to show you what we did so you can give it a try at your house and bring the lessons about counting money and making change to life.

Fun Way To Teach Your Child How To 

Count Money & Make Change

Getting Started

I will assume at this point your children have had some instruction on what all the coins and paper currency in our country look like and what the value of each one is. If you haven't gotten that far yet then it is time to crack open their piggy banks and spend some time exploring coins and paper bills. 

Once your children have a good grasp on coins, skip counting by 5's, 10's and 25 it is time for them to open their first in-home store. Here is how we set ours up!

Gather Store Inventory

Have your children gather up toys, clothes, games and any other items they no longer use or want. I gave each of my kids their own fabric bin to fill. We picked an area in our house that was an open space and each child was given a small table like a snack tray or coffee table to set up their things. 

Tip - this is a great time to talk about how stores position certain brands to draw customer's attention! 

Once your children are done setting up their stores it is time to create a store name and sign. Pull out the craft supplies and let them go wild creating, decorating and designing their own store sign and logo. When they are done have them tape or post their store sign to their table or close to it!

Price To Sell

Allow your children to set the prices for the items in their shop. I recommend keeping the math simple by providing them with pricing guidelines. Using whole dollar amounts as well as amounts equal to the coins they are learning about help keep the math simpler as they start.

Tip - talk to your kids about the price of items they see you buying at the grocery store or mall. Show them how brand name items are usually more expensive than generic. 

Not every item in their store needs to have individual price tags. A pricing sheet could be used instead where they list a brief description and a price like this: stuffed animal = $1, Perler bead creations = $0.25.

Cha....Ching!

Time to let the kids open their stores! They will be super excited to show off their goods and will be ready to start selling. It is best to establish ground rules regarding sales. Kids should decide if all sales are final or if this is just for fun and everyone gets their stuff back at the end.

Since the whole purpose of this exercise is to teach your kids how to count money it might be best to have mom (or dad) be the keeper of the cash/change box. This ensures that all transactions are done correctly and under supervision (preventing any problems!).

I also find it best that the money used for shopping and making change is provided by Mom/Dad. Kids who are just learning about money might get confused or worried that their own money won't be returned to them when all of this fun is done. So next time you are at the bank ask the clerk for a variety of small paper currency and a few rolls of each denomination of coins to use as the store cash box and shopper cash.

tip - my kids have a cool little toy cash register toy that dings and has buttons to push that we use when we play store. Using a toy cash register isn't necessary but it sure is a lot more fun! 

Making Their First Sale

Once the stores are open it is time for the kids to do some shopping. Let your children take turns being a shopper and a store keeper. If you choose to invite neighbors, grandparents or friends over to shop their stores set a time for the stores to be open and closed. Make sure everyone knows this is just for practice and all items and cash will be returned at the end.

When a customer selects an item to purchase, have the child who owns the store bring the item to the cash register. Have the customer pay the child then you can help them count back change. After your child gets the hang of counting back change let them try it on their own.

tip - explain to your child what good customer service is and how they can be a better store owner by practicing what you discuss.

This is a super fun way to teach kids how to count money and make change that they won't forget. I hope you children enjoy creating their own store and selling their inventory as much as mine love this activity.

Teach Your Child How To Tell Time

Looking for more homeschooling help? I've put together another great post that will help you teach your children how to tell time on an analog clock! Check it out and remember to Pin it for later too. 

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