Life Skills - Explorers - Getting to Know Coins
Resources
As much as possible, real money should be used. This will help your child when transferring these skills into the real world. However, if you don't have access to coins there is a template below which you could print. You may wish to print the coins on card or laminate them for durability.
At Addington, we tend to introduce the concept of money using larger coin values (£1, £2), since these are most applicable to shopping in a real-life context.
The communication board below may be useful to you during role-play tasks.
Sensory Activities
Activity 1 - coins in the purse sensory bag
Push and slide the coins in this sensory bag for children into the purse. This is a super activity for developing early maths skills, fine motor control and understanding of money.
Activity 2 - I spy coins
Hunt for the coins in this sensory bottle for children. Develop early maths skills by recognising the coins and adding up totals.
Learning Through Play
Activity 3 - Diving for Treasure
Learning to distinguish between coins and other objects.
Gather together some coins and a collection other small objects (e.g. Lego bricks, paperclips, buttons) that will sink. Put them into a bowl of warm, soapy water and take turns to "dive" by dipping your hand into the water and pulling something out. Is it treasure (money)? Keep the coins you find and discard the other items. Who can collect the most treasure?
(You could download and laminate these A4 coin templates if real coins could cause a choking hazard for your child.)
Activity 4 - Shopping Role Play
Practising the concept of shopping as a transaction.
The communication board at the top of this page may be useful for this activity.
Take turns to be a shopkeeper and a customer, focusing on exchanging a coin for an item. This could be an elaborate acting scenario or a simple back-and-forth swapping activity. Children who are reluctant to play in this way could perhaps exchange a coin in order to "buy" a preferred toy or snack.
EXTENSION IDEAS:
- Price all of your items at £1. Can your child find £1 from a selection of coins?
- Allow them to buy a few items (up to 5) at £1 each. Can they count out the right number of £1 coins?
Worksheet Activities
Activity 5 - Counting Out Coins
Learning to count objects accurately and relate this to money.
Using some pennies and the Money Counting sheet below, practise counting out the correct number of coins. Once, you have counted them correctly, you could stick down the printable coins from the top of this page.
(Note: it is counting the number of coins that is important here, not adding up coins of different values)
EXTENSION:
Give yourself and your child a different number of coins (all of the same value) and ask them who has more/less money.
Activity 6 - Counting Out Change
Learning to add and subtract in whole pounds.
You will need 10 real or paper £1 coins for this activity.
Using the Counting Change worksheet below, give your child the number of coins that is listed as their 'spending money'. Ask them to pay for the item on the sheet by giving you the right number of coins. They can then count how many coins they have left to find the answer.
Activity 7 - Coin Sorting
Learning to distinguish and identify different coins.
Using real coins where possible, begin by asking your child to "Find the...." from a selection of coins.
Move on to sorting them into groups using the Piggy Bank sheets below.
(Note: start with a few coins that are easy to tell apart, such as 50p and £1)
Activity 8 - Value Matching
Learning the values of the different coins and how to recognise prices.
Once your child has an understanding of which coins are which, play a game of 'pairs' with the Matching Cards below. Lay the cards face down and take turns to turn over 2 cards. If you reveal a pair (i.e. a coin and its value), you win those cards.
