Money Project

Why did we choose this project?

Many children had shown previous interest in money and they had been shop role-playing.

What activities did we do?

English – New vocabulary included “notes, coins, silver, gold, buy, sell, save, borrow, bank”.

Math – Many activities involved addition and subtraction as we learned how to count money.

Social skills – Through role-playing, children learned how to talk to customers and they learned negotiation skills. There was also an element of learning about honesty, as we discussed what to do when we find money.

Art/Craft – We did a lot of money designing activities. Children also made wallets, piggy banks, and traced coins.

Science – Cleaning coins in cola, floating coins, watermarks (note security)

Other – We looked at money from around the world. Many children brought foreign currency for show and tell. Our main activity was actually a very big role-play that continued for several weeks. After making our classroom currency, which we called “Yez”, children were encouraged to think of ways to make more money, with some of them opening their own “business”, to earn more money. Each child could save their money in our bank, or spend it on various things. They enjoyed getting paid weekly and seeing the notes and coins with their faces on them!    

How did we conclude this project?

Unfortunately we had to finish this project due to the end of the school year. It was very popular and the children enjoyed many aspects. Our concluding activity was spending real money. Children were asked to help their parents at home, and get paid \100 each. They put all their money together and we went shopping at Toys”R”Us. Together they discussed the different things they could buy and decided to buy a game that they could enjoy playing together!