Counting coins…do you hear those two words teachers and just dread the upcoming math unit?? I’ll be honest – I used to raise my hand on this one too! Counting coins is a tricky skill and one that students often struggle with, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Let’s first get into why counting coins seems to be trickier in this day and age. Let’s be real – no one really uses coins anymore. We all have debit cards and credit cards and Venmo. People and parents are often not carrying around cash and coins for students to see real life money experiences. Since we are not using these in our everyday lives – kids aren’t exposed to coins like they used to be. I honestly think this is a large reason why coin identification and counting coins has become a harder skill to teach over the years. But – it still is an important math skill, life skill, and one that is in many math standards.
My goal today is for you to walk away from this blog post with a few fun new ways you can make teaching counting coins engaging for you and most importantly – your students. Check out my ideas below…
Coin Sort Activity
A foundational element in teaching coin counting is ensuring students are able to accurately identify the coins. If students cannot distinguish between different coins, the counting process becomes much more difficult.
To solve this problem, I use a variety of coin sorting activities. Students are presented with a mixed collection of coins and instructed to categorize them based on their type. This practice serves to reinforce visual recognition, facilitate the differentiation of coin characteristics, and provide an opportunity to discuss the value of each coin.
Skip Counting
Skip counting is a wonderful skill to help students with counting coins. I do a lot of whole group skip counting as we get into our coin unit so they can see the relationship between skip counting and counting coins. There are also a number of skip counting songs online that you can use too.
Break the Bank – Online Math Game for Counting Coins
ABCya has a fun game called Break the Bank. In this game, students get to break open the piggy bank and then sort the various coins. They also have an option for students to count the money. This can be a great addition to a technology rotation or practice time.
Counting Coins Practice (Color Coded)
This coin small group activity came about last year when my students were having difficulty with counting mixed coins. It was hard for them to switch the number they were skip counting by.
So to work on this I used four different colors of construction paper and put the starting coin letter on them (for example – dimes said “D” and were on orange paper). Then, I’d have students come up and give them a paper to hold. (For example, two dimes, a nickel, and 3 pennies) We’d put them in order – putting liked coins together – from largest value to smallest. Then we would work together to skip count as a group and find the total amount.
Ways to Make
To challenge students and promote critical thinking, I love to have them come up with as many ways as they can to create a certain amount. For example, ten cents – could be ten pennies, a dime, two nickels, one nickel and five pennies. These numbers could be differentiated based on your grade level and student need. Click HERE for a set that is already made for you and ready to use!
Cupcake Tin Coins
One of my favorite money math stations or activities is having students count out the amount to fill the cupcake liner. On each cupcake liner I write a different amount. Then students have to use the coin manipulatives to create the amount on the liner.
I love this because you can differentiate the numbers and there isn’t necessarily one right answer. There can be many different ways to create a specific amount so this is a great open-ended activity.
Hair Trick for Counting Coins
I’m not sure where I saw this, but the hair trick for counting coin has been helpful for some of my students. For this students put “hairs’ on the coins. Each hair has a value of 5. So a quarter would get 5 hairs, a dime would get 2 hairs, and a nickel would get one hair. A penny gets a dot since its value is one.
So when students are counting a total amount of coins, they would first put the specific hairs needed on each coin. Then they can count by 5s and then 1s for the pennies to figure out the total amount.
So, there you have it! While counting coins might initially seem like a daunting unit, it doesn’t have to be. By incorporating engaging activities like coin sorting, skip counting, tech games, color-coded practice, ‘ways to make’ challenges, cupcake tin counting, and even the ‘hair trick,’ we can transform this traditionally challenging topic into an enjoyable and effective learning experience.
Remember, the key is to bridge the gap between our digital world and the practical skill of handling money. By making it hands-on, interactive, and fun, we can empower our students to confidently master coin counting and build essential life skills.