Money is an important asset that keeps the world moving. Earning, managing, spending, and saving money are crucial life skills required for successfully navigating the world.
These skills are acquired at a young age and remain with us forever. Educators and parents play a pivotal role in helping children understand and apply these crucial skills in practical life.
A comprehensive and carefully formulated lesson plan can help educators effectively deliver money-counting lessons to little kids and make them aware of money-related concepts. In this blog, we have discussed a detailed counting money lesson plan that deals with the basics of money counting and will guide students in understanding basic money concepts.
Before moving to the lesson plan, let’s see why money skills are important for young children.
Let’s get started!
Why are money skills important for children?
Teaching young children money skills lays a strong foundation for their future financial independence and stability. Some major benefits of teaching children money skills are-
1. Teach the value of money
At a very young age, money is a colorful paper or a certain number of coins that can buy you anything. No wonder some young children even try to trade fake toy currency for real products and end up dissatisfied. Teaching children the concept of money will help them understand its value and how real money is used practically.
2. Strengthens mathematical concepts
Money skills require basic mathematical skills. Without basic mathematical skills, even counting the coins is impossible. Therefore, when children begin to understand and work with money, they also get a strong grip on mathematical concepts. Dealing with money problems further helps children work with advanced mathematical concepts.
3. Better spending habits
It’s not until parents provide some real money to their little kids they understand the real value of money. And with real money in hand, children learn and try to spend it in a regulated manner. Teaching young kids money skills helps them establish better spending habits, which is beneficial for future financial stability.
4. Financial literacy
Finance is a highly important life skill that parents and teachers should cultivate in children from a very young age. It is important in today’s fast-paced world that children understand the basic terms and concepts of finance and money and also have a basic sense of savings and spending money. Helping children achieve financial literacy is important for a better and planned future.
5. Understanding the risks and consequences involved
From a very young age, habits for the future are developed. There are always risks and consequences involved with money and teaching children the same from a young age can be beneficial for their present as well as future. For instance, if a child spends all his monthly pocket money in the first 10 days, he will be left with no money and saved resources for the next 20 days. These are some situations that everyone tries to avoid. Hence money skills developed at a young age help avoid money’s possible risks and consequences.
Understanding the counting money lesson plan
The above points depict the importance of money skills in real life. But how can parents and teachers help children learn the concepts of money and its application in real life?
To make the process of teaching money skills easy, fun, and engaging for young children, we have formulated a comprehensive money lesson plan that educators can use in their lessons for teaching money counting to young learners.
The Counting Money lesson plan is an elementary-level lesson plan that focuses on counting notes and coins of different denominations, adding and subtracting money, and using it daily.
The counting money lesson plan is based on the following objectives-
- Children will be able to count and represent money using different denominations of notes and coins.
- Children will be able to add and subtract money and use the concept in daily life situations.
The material required for the lesson plan is as follows-
- Paper money
- Paper coins
The lesson plan begins with a brainstorming session that involves some probing questions, such as students can think of different situations where they used money and how people used to buy things in earlier times when there was no concept of money.
Lessons
First, the lesson plan talks about different denominations of coins and notes. Educators can show different notes and coins to the students, which can be real or fake or from different countries, and tell children which note or coin means what. For instance, presenting $1, $5, or $100 notes in a class and making children familiar with the notes. Educators can also present different coin denominations, such as a penny, nickel, dime, half a dollar, etc. It will give young minds an idea of different currencies and their relatedness.
Second, once children know different denominations, educators can introduce the concepts of addition and subtraction of money required to carry out transactions. Educators can introduce this using real-life examples for better understanding.
Third, the lesson plan deals with the relationship between dollars and cents. For instance, a dollar is represented using a “$” symbol, and how many cents will equal 1 dollar?
Next, the lesson plan includes certain activities that will make the taught concepts much more clear and accessible. The activities include-
Activity 1:
Educators will provide certain monetary values to the students, and students have to write different denominations for that value. For instance, $25 is money value, and different denominations of it would be $10 + $10 + $5.
Activity 2:
In activity 2, children have to write the numerals for the giving values of money. This activity will help them better understand the concepts of dollars and cents and how they are related.
Activity 3:
The activity involves certain numerals for money values that children must add to determine the total sum.
Activity 4:
It involves certain money-related real-life situations where children have to add and subtract different money values to trade the correct value of money.
Effective strategies for teachers to make lessons on counting money easy
Counting money is a necessary skill, though a challenging one. It requires patience and support from parents and teachers while children grasp the concepts of money and learn its practical use. Some strategies that are effective and can make the process of money counting and learning easy are-
1. Skip counting
Yes, teach young children the concept of skip counting. Not just teach but make them proficient in skip counting. Skip counting is a mathematical concept that involves counting forward by any number other than 1. Skip counting is very useful when counting money and having to trade the money. It will help children count the money faster and use it efficiently.
2. Money counting games
The Internet is full of engaging, smart, and fun online money-counting games that educators can use to teach young minds the concepts of money. Offline money-counting games are also available, which are equally effective and fun.
3. Manipulatives
Money counting manipulatives are another effective strategy that educators or parents can use to help children understand the practical applications of money. Addition and subtraction of different money values and finding the right value can be simplified using money counting manipulatives.
4. Money-counting activities
Another useful strategy to teach little learners money counting is activities. For instance, parents can encourage children to purchase the items and pay at the store. With such activities, a child will use money in real life and get the hang of money-related concepts.
5. Flashcards
Educators can also use innovative flashcards to introduce money concepts to young children. Flashcards are easy to understand and help in the retention of the concepts; hence, they will be highly useful in grasping novel money concepts. Flashcards can be made online with the help of some effective websites or one can also try DIY Flashcards.
Concluding thoughts
By the end of the counting money lesson plan, the children will be well-versed with the concepts of dollars and other denominations and know how these money values can be used in daily life. Counting money is a practical activity. Hence, it is best to let children try these activities in the practical world and let them try their hands at different money-related experiences.
I am Sehjal Goel, a psychology student, and a writer. I am currently pursuing my Masters’s from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Child psychology has always fascinated me and I have a deep interest in learning about disabilities in children and spreading awareness regarding the same. My other areas of interest are neuropsychology and cognitive psychology. Connect me on Linkedin