Money, Money, Money!

Money time! Nope, not in my paycheck or any craziness like that - just the joy of playing with plastic coins that never, ever accidentally fly across the room when we're supposed to be counting by 5's or 10's. Funny how those suckers get so slippery in the hands of antsy 8 year olds...<insert MASSIVE eye-roll here>

I actually spent a bit of time figuring out how to keep those coins on the desks and in their hands instead of flying around the room and ending up on the floor. I'm not sure I've come up with the perfect solution to that, BUT I did kind of accidentally create a game in the process! I've seen the race to a 100 games and things on Pinterest, so I guess that was kind of rattling around in my brain. I came up with a Race to a Quarter version. The top half is upside down so that two kids can sit facing each other with the game board in the middle of them and each can see their own side of the board right side up (please tell me that makes sense...) Here's the board - just click on it to download from GoogleDocs.

Now, here's the fun part. I made some money dice! I had picked up these little wooden squares at Michaels for an entirely different purpose that I totally can not remember at the moment. They were really cheap, like $3 for a bag of 20 or so. I found them over in the woodworking section. Again, no clue what I wanted them for at the time...scary.  Then I took some of the plastic coin manipulatives and stuck them on the sides of the block with glue dots. Voila! Money dice! I think I'm pretty awesome right now, so if someone else has already created this, don't tell me.


To play the game, give each pair of kids one game board, one money cube and some small markers to cover the spaces on the board. Have the kids take turns rolling the cube and cover up the same amount of spaces as the coin they land on. If they roll a penny, they can cover one space, a nickel 5 spaces, etc. The first player to roll to 25 cents is the winner.

Have fun my friends! I have a few more ideas for teaching money, so as long as someone hides my Kindle, I'll have them posted in the next few days :)

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22 comments

  1. What a great idea!! Now, I have another to add to my to-do list for the summer. I saw an idea somewhere to help with the noise of dice rolling on a desktop...you can use that rubber type shelf liner and cut it into large pieces for the kids to roll their dice on.
    Connie:)
    www.welcometofirstgraderoom5.blogspot.com

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  2. Great idea! I've never seen it before... so it's all you!
    ❤Teri
    A Cupcake for the Teacher

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  3. Ohmygoodness! Money dice...now that's genius! So simple and SO smart! I love that! Thanks for the cute game! My kiddos will love this.

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  4. I LOVE that money dice that you created! It's perfect! Thanks for the freebie! :)

    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

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  5. What a fun game! Love the money dice :)

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  6. Your money idea is great!!!! I ma have to try this with my class this week because we are learning about money right now. Thanks for the idea!

    Karmen
    www.karmenskindersofromm103@blogspot.com

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  7. I love the money dice and the game sounds awesome Denise! Happy almost summer!!

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  8. Headin' out to the garage to have my husband cut out little squares of wood I'm sure he has somewhere!!

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  9. I love it !!! I have a money dice that is gathering dust, now I have a game the kids will love to go with it ! Thanks so much ! By the way, I spent the weekend with Ana and Christian and I am just a little hooked......

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  10. I love, love, love all of your games and activities. I follow your blog and am so impressed. I just started blogging and I would love for you to follow me and give me some advice.

    http://secondgradesurprises.blogspot.com/
    Thanks,
    Julie

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  11. Great game! Have you tested out the dice yet? I'm just wondering if the different sized coins make a difference in what the die lands on. Have you played Roll a Dollar? That's another great game using a die and coins. Just found your blog & now I'm following you. Stop by mine sometime.
    Storie
    Stories by Storie

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  12. Did you hurry and buy stock in Michael's since you have just convinced all of us we NEED to buy those cubes! So clever!

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  13. You're so funny! I love your sense of humor! What a cute idea! Thanks for sharing this, Denise! I've followed your blog and TPT store for almost a year now and always love your ideas and posts!
    Linda

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  14. Great idea! Thanks for sharing. My Kindle is calling me too but I have report cards to do, ack!
    Jenn
    Finally in First

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  15. I love it! We have just a few days left of school and this is a great activity to keep them busy! Thanks for sharing.

    Sarah
    http://learningisforsuperstars.blogspot.com

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  16. OMG I just found your blog and love it!! This is a fabulous idea. I'm totally going to make a bunch of these over the summer. It will be perfect for our money unit next year! Thanks for a great idea :)

    Katie
    Dirty Hands and Lesson Plans

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  17. What an AWESOME idea, Denise!!! LOVE it!

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  18. Love the dice! Thanks for the game!

    Sally from Elementary Matters

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  19. I love your blog! I will be using your Race to a Quarter board tomorrow, but since I don't have the wood cubes, I will put the coins in a small paper bag and have them draw 1 coin at a time, taking turns. We'll see how it goes. I LOVE THIS IDEA! Thank you!

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