Learning about Money

     My 3 year old {soon to be 4} has always called money, "Money Tickets". I'm not sure where she had come up with that, but I always thought it was really cute how she talked about money. It seemed like every time my family and I would go shopping, my daughter would mention money tickets at the checkout stand. And almost every single time that she would, the clerk would comment on how cute it was.

     
     Lately, my daughter has started to notice that there are some similarities and differences in her "money tickets". I decided it was time to tell her about money. I did this by introducing her to quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies. I asked her to sort the money by size, by color, and most importantly into their own little groupings (i.e. quarters with quarters, pennies with pennies, dimes with dimes, etc.) I even invited her to name each coin, as she placed each coin into its special spot.
    


     This activity could be expanded to include playing "store" or "restaurant". I tried doing this with my daughter, but all she wanted to do was sort her money over and over. She is such a silly kid. I love to death!

Fun Math Games for Kids

     I love using visuals to teach children, especially when it comes to math. When I taught preschool, I would always use empty egg cartons and cereal to sort and count. The treat would always draw children into the activity, but there was one rule: the child couldn't eat the cereal until the learning activity was over. Today, I would like to share with you just how I taught math using an egg carton and cereal.

     For the counting activity, I would cut out and place numbers 1-6 (one number for each hole in the carton). Once the numbers were placed, I would ask the child to look at each number. Then count out the same number of cereal, and place them into each carton hole. To make it a little more challenging, I would mix up the numbers. For example: Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; I would change it to 5, 3, 4, 1, 6, 2. If the child did well with both challenges, I would add more numbers to the carton. For example: instead of 1-6, I could add 7-12. Then ask the child to count, and place cereal to match the written number.

     Another great way to test a child's math skill is to have them sort their cereal. I would always ask kids to sort by color. If he or she mastered this concept, I would ask the child to sort the cereal by size. To make it a little more challenging, I would switch the cereal out for one that has different shapes (i.e. Lucky Charms) and ask the child to sort the cereal by their shapes. This is a terrific way to test your child to see where they stand in learning their colors, sizes, and shapes.

     These small math activities could be used in any math center, or just as a fun activity to do at home with your spare time. Kids really enjoy these activities, especially getting that tasty reward at the end!