Design and Create Your Own Family "Money"

What You Need:

• 4 pieces of lightly colored paper, one for each color (for instance: yellow, pale green, pale blue, pink)
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Lead pencil
• Colored pencils or pens

What You Do:

1. First, cut out your money. Divide each piece of paper into 7 segments along the long edge, and in half along the short edge. This should give you a grid of 14 bill-shaped rectangles.
2. Cut out the rectangles and repeat with the other pieces of paper.
3. Decide what units of currency your family money should take. A good place to start is to make one set of colored bills be $1, the next $5, the next $10, and the last $20, so each color represents its own denomination. For each denomination, you will need to choose a family member or pet to draw on the bills. For instance, Mom can represent the $20 bill and her face will appear on each one, Dad can be on the $10 bills, and so on.
4. Take a look at a real dollar bill to figure out what you want to put on your bills. It should be clear what the bill is, so be sure to put the number "1" or "5" in various places. Draw the family member's head in the middle of one side of the bill. The rest of the decoration is up to you!
5. After you have drawn up all of your bills, you should have 14 $1 bills, 14 $5 bills, 14 $10 bills, and 14 $20 bills. Figure out how much money you have!
6. Once you've tallied up how much money is in the "bank," you can distribute some of your cash to family members. Use your family money as currency in negotiations over chores and treats, and be sure to give proper change!