Make Money Make "Cents" to Your Second Grader

What You Need:

• Two players
• Play or real coins (approximately 50 pennies, 10 nickels, four dimes, and two quarters)
• Die
• Paper
• Pencil

What You Do:

1. Take turns rolling the die. Each player rolls the die once per turn and each dot on the die equals one cent.
2. On each turn, players draw and record the number on the die on the sheet of paper next to his or her name, labeling the turn each time.
3. Take the number of cents corresponding to the number you rolled on the die.
4. On any given turn, circle the coins that you can trade for a higher value coin if you're able. For example, if you have 7 cents, you may trade in five of those cents for one nickel; 10 cents for a dime, etc.
5. Draw and record what the trade looks like in the next few lines below.
6. The first person who reaches 25 cents and can trade in their coins for a quarter is the winner.

As your second grader becomes more confident and skilled with counting coins, you may want to make this activity more challenging by changing it to “Ways to Make $.50 or $1.00”