My 3Rd Grader Needs Help with Her Money counting....any Suggestions?

Do you have a change jar? My boys(6 & 8)are very comfortable with money but we have always had a change jar that we spend and that the boys can earn from.

You might try setting both your girls up with a tray at the table and give them lots of change to feel and stack and organize- whatever they want to do. They may ask questions, if they do then answer their questions but put off the "lesson" until they have played for a few days.

After a few days of play, bring in the dollars and show them the exchanges and values. I have actually gone to the bank and taken out $300 in mixed denominations to show the kids what $300 CASH looks like. They LOVED it! But take baby steps through the whole process. She will learn over time just give her the time to get more comfortable with it.

Just my $.02 (hee, hee!)
Hope it helps,
T.

One thing I did with my daughter around that age was play shopping with all the coupons and ads that come in the Sunday paper, or catalogs I'd get in the mail. I would give her some $ and she'd go shopping and pay for each thing, and make change from the "clerk" etc. Learning money concepts is really hard, it is so abstract - how can this 1 thing equal 10 or 5 of 25? It doesn't make sense to them right away so I can understand. Telling time is right up there too. LOL Good luck!

To heck with other customers! :-) Why not go to a small store that maybe doesn't have such long lines so she can practice? Or play store at home. Or have a garage sale? Good luck!

Instead of the real store why not make up a pretend store. Or maybe even try putting a dollar amount on every day things. For instance watching tv cost $1.45, or doing homework earns $2.00, and have her pay with a larger bill. Not sure if this will help as mine are younger, but it popped in to my head.
Good luck

You can set up a "store" at your house. You can buy small toys are candy and put prices on them. Have her purchase the treat and help her that way. There is also a website Aplusmath.com that you can create worksheets that helps with identifing money and counting money. If you can go to a store during "less busy" hours and let the cashier know what you are doing, hopefully they will be nice about it. We have all been there sometime in our lives. Good luck.

Flashcards always seem to work wonders. Maybe you can find some money related ones somewhere, or make some up!

Remember that kids are always different with Mommy.. maybe you can enlist a grandparent or someone she looks up to for help.

Dear Cynthia,

Get some play money and pay her for things that she does around the house. Then sit with her to add up all that she has 'earned' tell her that the two of you will go shopping and buy her something of her choice (in your price range) telling her that something costs too much for the family to afford to buy is a lesson too. She and the first grader can use their toys and dolls to make a store and buy things from each other. That will help them both. Be sure that they use some little stickers to put the prices on the things to be sold so that it is clear how much they have to pay, and cut down on the disagreements.

Did you know that when kids tattle on each other that they are really asking you what your value system is? What do you think is right? It makes a difference in how tattling affects you when you know that. They are just trying to figure out the world.

Get a fun version of Monoply - I think that they have several new versions now. Maybe you like the old version, I don't know. Anyway, make it more personal and fun for her. I think that teachers sometimes get so involved in the lesson that they forget that each child is AN INDIVIDUAL and not all of them are interested in the same thing. So that is what parents are for to help at home when the kids can't do it at school. Not being snide to you, just to the school. Many schools now adays require the children to do too much homework, I am wondering when the parents are going to revolt, I know that some of the children already have revoltedl I was a teacher too and the school gets pretty caught up in SUCCESS ! which can mean different things to different people. ....and so on. Good Luck, C. N.

My suggestions would be:
Play store at home.
Help count their change in her piggy bank. Start by counting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters seperatly. Then once this understood, mix up the change and add up a variety such as a few nickels, dimes. Eventually help count how much money is in the piggy bank.
Practice counting by fives and tens.
Talk about how much each coin or bill is worth.
practice adding up quarters.
Have her figure out how much money she needs to give the cashier clerk when she is buying herself something.

We started a thing at our house that at the end of the day we'd empty our pockets of change at the table together. We called it "Free money Time." Initially we started by having her identify each coin. I.E. Quarter equals 25cents, dime etc. If she answered correctly she got to keep the "free money" in her piggy bank. Once she knew each coin then she had to count it. How much she counted/added up correctly, was how much "free money" she got to keep. When she had collected $2-$5 worth we took her to the dollar store to pick out a new toy with the money she had earned. She's 7 now and can count money! As long as she can look at the coins. Just remember repetition is the key. I've been told the hardest concepts to learn are money and clocks.
As for the people at the store, I say, Make them wait. Someone took the time to teach them your just taking the time to teach your daughter.
Good luck hope this helps
K. P.

Taking her shopping somewhere is a great idea, just try to do it when it is not too busy, and you should not have a problem. When you approach the register say that it is homework to buy something and work with money.

Have you tried having a yard sale, bake sale or lemonade stand with her. My 6 year old loves to play store at home. She gets it from being present in all the booths I do with my photo gifts and craft business. If you do a yard sale, bake sale, or lemonade stand the client will expect her to be slow, and will most likely be patient. She will be excited to learn it as she will be making money too! Try not to make it obvious that it is a lesson and she will retain the info longer.

Another way to deal with money is to incorporate her learning into Allowance. If she sees how the lesson applies in real life it may stick better. For example I give my kids allowances. I take them shopping and they spend quite a bit of time trying to follow their budget when selecting their purchase. They pay for their item at the register. Also, you can have her divide up her money into spending, savings, charity... Then have her count out how much is in each.

Also, we have a reward system her at our house. I have a 9 and 6 year old. I print out a weekly chart for this activity. Every time they wake up with a clean room and go to bed with a clean room they get a point. Every time they take a bath/shower without me asking another point, and when they get to bed on time another point. Every point they earn equals a dollar in our house. We don't use real money but you could, or toy money. We have family movie nights on weekends. The movies each cost $3, the snacks cost $2 each. Anytime during the week they can watch a half hour show on TV for $1, or play a half hour of a video game for a dollar. You could really mix this up to make it sink in, for example instead of using whole dollars break it down into a dime, penny, nickel, or quarter each. Have her fill in and track her own chart earnings and spending.

You could make a memory game for her with coins. Get some poster board. Cut it into 2 inch squares. Tape or hot glue a quarter, nickel, dime and penny each to a square. Now write the amount of the coins each on a square. place all the cards face down. Have her play the matching game. She will select a square and turn it over. If she turns over a square with a penny on it she has to find the written 1 cent (with cent sign) square to match it. If she does not seem interested play with her.

I have found that my kids learn the lesson better when they are doing it with me, and I am not forcing it. Make it fun and make it apply to real life. Good luck!