Counting coins: how to teach kids to count money

Counting coins starts with knowing what each US coin is worth: penny 1¢, nickel 5¢, dime 10¢, quarter 25¢. Then sort the coins, put the biggest first, and count on. Two dimes and three pennies are 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, so 23¢.

What is each US coin worth?

• Penny: 1 cent (1¢)
• Nickel: 5 cents (5¢)
• Dime: 10 cents (10¢)
• Quarter: 25 cents (25¢)

A dollar is 100 cents, written $1. These four coins and the dollar bill are the money the Common Core Grade 2 standards name: they ask children to solve word problems with dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, “using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately.” Their example is: if you have 2 dimes and 3 pennies, how many cents do you have?

How do I teach coin values with real coins?

Real coins work well, because children can pick them up and compare them.

1. Lay out one of each coin. Ask your child to look closely. Which ones look alike? Which look different?
2. Say the name and the value together as they touch each coin: “A nickel. It is worth five cents.”
3. Ask whether bigger coins are always worth more. Check each coin against its value to find out.
4. Trade. Put down one nickel and ask for pennies to match it. Five pennies make a nickel. Two nickels make a dime. Try to find ways to make a quarter.
5. Play “same amount, different coins” with 10¢: one dime, or two nickels, or ten pennies.

Keep coins away from children under three, because they are a choking risk.

How do I count coins that are all the same?

Skip count by the coin’s value. Pennies go by ones, nickels by fives and dimes by tens. A pile of 4 nickels is “5, 10, 15, 20,” which is 20¢. The Grade 2 standards include skip-counting by 5s and 10s, so these two coins match a skill children are building. Quarters go by 25: “25, 50, 75, 100.” Touch each coin as you say its number, the same way your child learned to count objects. Our skip counting guide shows how to practice the 5s and 10s.

If counting by fives is shaky, count the nickels with a hundred chart or on your fingers before adding a mix of coins.

Which coin should I teach first?

Count one kind of coin at a time, in an order that follows the counts your child already knows.

1. Pennies, by ones.
2. Dimes, by tens. Counting to 100 by tens is already in the kindergarten standards (K.CC.A.1).
3. Nickels, by fives. Skip-counting by 5s comes in the Grade 2 standards (2.NBT.A.2).
4. Quarters last. Counting by 25s is in neither standard, so practice it on its own first. Four quarters make a dollar.

When each kind feels easy on its own, mix two kinds, such as dimes and pennies, before you mix all four.

What is the best order for counting coins?

When the coins are mixed, count the biggest first and count on. Here are the steps.

1. Sort the coins into piles by kind.
2. Put the biggest coins in a row first, then the next biggest, down to the pennies.
3. Say the value of the first coin.
4. Touch each coin in turn and count on from the total: add its value to what you said last.
5. Say the final number with the unit: “53 cents.”

Try this pile: 1 quarter, 2 dimes, 1 nickel and 3 pennies.

Starting with the biggest coin makes the early jumps easy to say (25, 35, 45), and the small coins at the end add five or one at a time. If your child gets stuck on a jump, go back to counting in smaller steps: from 25, count 10 and 10 by tens, then by fives, then by ones. Each step is an addition, so if sums within 100 are hard, our guide to how to teach addition can help. Money math is also a use for place value: 53¢ is 5 tens and 3 ones, which our place value guide covers.

Watch that your child counts cents, not coins. Four dimes are four coins but 40¢. If your child says “four,” ask “four what?” and count the dimes again by tens.

How do I make change by counting up?

Making change uses the same counting on. Start from the price, add coins until you reach the amount paid, and the coins you added are the change.

1. A treat costs 63¢. Your child pays $1, which is 100¢.
2. Start at 63. Add 2 pennies to reach 65.
3. Add a dime to reach 75.
4. Add a quarter to reach 100.
5. The change is the coins you added: 2¢ + 10¢ + 25¢ = 37¢.

Check it by subtraction: 100 − 63 = 37. Our guide to how to teach subtraction shows counting up as one way to subtract.

How do I write amounts of money?

The Grade 2 standards ask children to use the $ and ¢ symbols “appropriately.” For amounts under a dollar, write the cents with ¢ after the number: 53¢. For a dollar or more, put $ in front and a point between the dollars and the cents: $1.25 is one dollar and 25 cents. 53¢ can also be written $0.53. Use one symbol or the other, never both: 0.53¢ would mean about half of one cent.

What grade learns to count money?

In the US, the Common Core standards put word problems with coins and bills in Grade 2 (2.MD.C.8), under the heading “Work with time and money.” The kindergarten and Grade 1 measurement standards do not mention money. Our curriculum pages put coins earlier than that: the kindergarten page lists coins and notes, the first grade curriculum page lists money problems, the same amount two ways and giving change, and the second grade curriculum page lists money in two units. Children vary, so follow what your child can count rather than the grade.

In England, the national curriculum asks Year 1 children to “recognise and know the value of different denominations of coins and notes.” Year 2 children learn the symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p), find different combinations of coins that equal the same amount, and solve simple problems with money of the same unit, including giving change.

What about UK coins?

The method is the same with pence and pounds: sort, start with the biggest, and count on. With UK coins, the till in Coin Shop, the free game below, has 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p and £1 coins, and in Give change a customer may hand over a £2 coin. That is more kinds than the four US coins above, so there are more piles to sort, and 100p makes £1. Count 2p coins by twos and 20p coins by twenties. England’s Year 1 programme already asks children to count in multiples of 2s, 5s and 10s, which matches the 2p, 5p and 10p coins.

Which games help with counting coins?

Coin Shop is a free game for ages 6 to 8 with US or UK coins. In Pay mode, your child taps coins into a tray to pay the price on the tag, and the tray shows the running total. In Give change mode, the customer hands over a bigger coin or a dollar bill, and your child builds the change. After two tries on a customer, the game shows one way to pay with the fewest coins. More games for this age are on the second grade games page.

Play a shop at home too: price a few toys at 5¢ to 50¢ and take turns being the shopper and the shopkeeper. Or play a trading game: take turns rolling a die and taking that many pennies from a bowl. Trade five pennies for a nickel and two nickels for a dime whenever you can, and the first player to make 25¢ trades it for a quarter. Dice and coins are small, so keep the game away from children under 3. If your child finds counting money hard after many weeks of calm practice, talk to their teacher.