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Money and Making Change: How to Teach Kids at Home

Grades 1–4 · 5 min read

Money is one of the most practical math topics your child will learn, and it is full of useful skills: counting, skip counting, adding, subtracting, and decimals. Even though many families pay with cards and phones, understanding coins and making change helps children build number sense and make sense of prices. Home is the perfect place to practice, because real money is right there.

Step 1: know the coins

Start by making sure your child can name each coin and its value: a penny is 1 cent, a nickel is 5 cents, a dime is 10 cents, and a quarter is 25 cents. This is harder than it sounds, because the sizes do not match the values. A dime is the smallest coin but is worth more than a penny or a nickel. Point this out directly, and let your child sort a handful of real coins into groups.

Step 2: count coins of one kind

Next, count groups of the same coin by skip counting. Pennies count by ones, nickels by fives, dimes by tens, and quarters by twenty-fives: 25, 50, 75, 100. Practice counting a small pile of each type out loud.

Step 3: count mixed coins

  1. Sort the coins from greatest value to least: quarters, then dimes, then nickels, then pennies.
  2. Start with the quarters and count by 25s.
  3. Keep going with the dimes, counting on by 10s.
  4. Continue with nickels by 5s, then pennies by 1s.
  5. Say the total. For 2 quarters, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 3 pennies: 25, 50, 60, 65, 66, 67, 68. That is 68 cents.

Counting on from a changing number is tricky. If your child gets lost switching from quarters to dimes, pause and write down the running total before moving to the next coin.

Step 4: dollars and cents

Once your child can count to 100 cents, show that 100 cents equals 1 dollar. Then introduce writing money with a decimal point: 1 dollar and 25 cents is written with a 1, a decimal point, and 25. Explain that the numbers after the point are cents, and there are always two digits there. So 5 cents is written as 05 after the point, not 5, which is a common mistake.

Step 5: making change by counting up

Cashiers traditionally make change by counting up from the price to the amount paid, and it is a great mental math strategy for kids. Suppose something costs 63 cents and you pay with a 1 dollar bill.

  • Start at 63 cents.
  • Add 2 pennies to get to 65 cents.
  • Add 1 dime to get to 75 cents.
  • Add 1 quarter to get to 1 dollar.
  • Add up the change: 2 cents, plus 10 cents, plus 25 cents is 37 cents.

Counting up avoids tricky subtraction with zeros and builds strong mental math. Older kids can check the answer by subtracting: 100 minus 63 is 37.

Common mistakes

  • Counting every coin as one. Young children may count 3 coins as 3 cents. Keep practicing values and skip counting.
  • Starting with the smallest coins. Counting pennies first makes the switch to bigger coins harder. Start with the biggest.
  • Decimal errors. Writing 1 dollar and 5 cents with only one digit after the point. Remind your child that cents always take two places.
  • Guessing on word problems. Encourage your child to write down what they know, such as the price and the amount paid, before solving.

A 10-minute activity: family store

Set up a pretend store with toys, snacks, or household items. Label each item with a price under 1 dollar for younger kids, or up to 10 dollars for older kids. Give your child a small pile of real or play coins and bills. Take turns being the shopper and the cashier. The shopper pays, and the cashier must count up to make the correct change. For extra challenge, add a rule that the shopper can only buy two items and must figure out the total first.

Real-world practice

Whenever you shop, bring your child into the math. Ask them to estimate the total of a few items, count coins for a small purchase, or check the change you received. Giving older kids a small allowance and helping them plan how to save for something they want also builds strong money sense, along with good habits.

Money practice that fits your child

Some kids need more work on coin values, others on counting mixed coins or on money word problems. Study Tutor's AI tutor identifies your child's specific difficulty and creates printable money practice built around it.