Category Archives: money

Montessori Jar: Cleaning Pennies




Half of your penny is clean! So cool!!





Happy Teaching!

Advent Calendar Idea: Coin Recognition


Happy Teaching and COUNTING down to Christmas!

Happy PENNY Day!!!

If you don’t know it yet, I LOVE to celebrate holidays including the weird and mostly unknown ones! And if I can tie in some teaching for my little Boo, all the better! 🙂 May 23 is National Penny Day. Here are some ideas that you can use to celebrate this “cent”sational day! (SO cheezy I just had to throw it in!)

  1. make golden penny pancakes for breakfast (yummy!)
  2. visit a candy store and indulge in your favorite penny candy
  3. for your scientific child try some penny science experiments: how many drops of water fit on a penny, will it float or sink?, and magnetic pennies.
  4. toss a penny in a wishing well or fountain while making a wish
  5. count them
  6. read books such as Henny Penny, Angelina’s Lucky Penny, or my favorite- Penny: the Forgotten Coin.
  7. see how many you can stack in a penny tower
  8. learn some penny verses such as :
    Penny, penny,
    Easily spent.
    Copper brown
    and worth one cent
  9. give someone a penny for their thoughts
  10. take the pennies from your change jar, count them, roll them, and go do something fun with the money.
  11. practice fine motor skills by putting pennies in various slots/ containers such as piggie banks, shoe boxes with cut out slits, and toilet paper rolls.
  12. purposely place “heads up” pennies in various locations for strangers to find so that others can have good luck!
  13. make a penny necklace
  14. do crayon rubbings of both sides of the penny
  15. talk about the importance and the historical significance of the penny
  16. penny worksheets from
  17. put pennies in empty plastic easter eggs and shake ’em while you dance!
  18. visit the HIP Pocket Change Website (History In your Pocket) Its a great resource from the US mint- with the history of the penny, to how coins are made, a scout corner with ideas to earn merit badges with coins, as well as some cartoons and games… A few of my favorite are the Coin Memory Game, an online wishing well, and a lot of different downloads of coins to print and color!

Another reason you should celebrate this holiday that I just learned while typing this post- This year is not only the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, but the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln cent that first appeared in 1909!!! So celebrate Penny Day and part of US history!

Happy Teaching and may the learning and FUN never end!!!

Many thanks to eHOW, Saving, PBS Kids,, All, HIP Pocket Change and Science for their great ideas.

Toddler + Pennies = Captivating Learning Game

My daughter is fascinated with her piggie bank. She can sit for a very long time picking up coins and individually placing them in the bank’s slot. I was watching her do this (I wouldn’t leave a toddler alone with small coins because of a choking hazard) and was just amazed to watch her do something so intricately!

This is an easy way to work on fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, as well as early concepts of coin identification. Use “money words” as your child picks up a coin “That is a quarter.” and eventually you can add the coin’s value. Even the littlest of tots WILL benefit from a language-rich environment! You can sort the coins based on size, color, value, etc. and even learn about a circle, too! There are learning moments all around us- so keep your eyes open!

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