Our preK students recently spent some time exploring coins. Â We took a look at pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Â And while this activity took a little different turn than expected, it turned out to be the perfect way to introduce money to preschoolers…
We started out our activity by examining our coins. Â We try to use real hands-on materials whenever possible to give children life-like experiences, so, of course, our coins were real. Â But if you can’t use real change in your classroom, that’s okay too. Â There are a lot of plastic coins available that bear a close resemblance to the real thing. Â The children all took one of each coin. Â We looked at the colors and shapes of the coins and compared their similarities and differences. And then we began naming the coins. Â We explained that a penny equals one cent, that a nickel equals five cents, and so on. Â We decided to take it step further and began to explain how five pennies equal one nickel, and how ten pennies equal one dime…
Well, our lesson started to get confusing to the children so we decided to take the activity in a different direction…
One of our students had already figured out how to do coin rubbings and was working on his coin rubbing so the rest of us just joined in on his idea…
The children loved coloring over the different coins to see the imprint magically appear on their paper. Â The children colored over each of the different coins, over and over again, always excited to see what picture would appear…
And it turned out that coin rubbings were the perfect way to introduce money to our preschoolers…
The lesson to be learned here? Â It’s okay to scrap an idea mid-lesson if it just isn’t working out. Â It’s okay to switch directions or to abandon the idea altogether. Â Follow your children’s lead and the learning will happen but perhaps not in the way you have expected at that moment…
A simple thing like crayon rubbings can spark interest in an activity in a way that just may surprise you!
Available on Amazon
Links to Grow On
Money Math for Preschoolers from Crayon Freckles
Coin Rubbing Matching Game from Blog Me Mom