How to Learn With Play Money

Elementary school teachers usually first expose children to skills dealing with money. These skills set the foundation for using money over a person's lifetime. Since most students learn best through hands-on activities, paper money can be a valuable tool in teaching children how to perform transactions with real money. Paper money gives children a tangible method of understanding how money is counted and exchanged. Most students also enjoy playing with paper money, and a student who is having fun while learning is also more likely to learn the skill that is being taught.

• 1

  Identify the names of various bills and coins and have students pick out the units of money that you announce from a collection of play money. Being able to identify the different types of bills and coins is the first step to learning about money.

• 2

  Teach money counting skills by giving students play money and counting it together.

• 3

  Set up a pretend "store" in your classroom. Have your students display items that can be sold, such as pencils, erasers, paper clips and staplers. Create price tags for each item. Give students a certain amount of play money and have them practice going shopping at the classroom store.

• 4

  Use money to illustrate math sentences. For instance, have students count out 10 one-dollar bills. Then have them subtract seven dollars from the whole, which leaves three dollars. The students can then write math sentences that show what happened in the money transaction.