8 Fun Games for Teaching Children How to Count Money

Avatar of Salma Ihab
Updated on: Educator Review By: Michelle Connolly

How to count money can be tricky if you have ever given your child money to pay for something, and they didn’t get the change back correctly? because they don’t know how to count money? Yes, we’ve all been in the same situation.

Has your child been nagging about wanting to be like grown-ups and have their own money? They have no idea what they are in for.

Children see grown-ups have money in their wallets and want to be like them, and if you say “no when you grow up,” we all know they don’t take “no” for an answer easily!

There’s an idea that will save you a lot of “no’s” in the future: how about teaching your child how to count money in a fun way? There are many fun ways to teach your children to count money, such as board games, and I believe most of us grew up playing Monopoly, and our only goal was to buy hotels! When you decide to teach them how to count money, you must keep two things in mind.

Two Important Questions You Need to Ask Yourself.

First, ask yourself:

Why is it important to teach children about money?

  1. Children want to be treated like grown-ups.
  2. One of the best ways to teach your child independence is to give them the opportunity to manage their own money.
  3. When they grow up, they will understand the value of money, which will lead to them being responsible when they start earning their own money.
  4. Knowing the value of money teaches them to spend wisely.

Second, it is important that children learn the value of money early on so that when they have their own money, they can spend it wisely, which leads to the second question.

How can we teach our children the value of money?

  1. Talk to them about where the money comes from, how hard mommy and daddy work to earn the money they have
  2. Allow them to work for their allowance so that when they take out the trash, they earn money; when they make their bed, they earn money, and so on.
  3. Teach them to save money so they can buy something they really want rather than just buying everything for them.

So, Let’s Move on to the Next Important Topic:

How Can We Teach Our Children About Money?

As said before, there are fun ways to teach your children how to count money. The fun old-fashioned way is board games; there are board games dedicated to teaching about money, and the modern way is online games; let’s take a look at them.

3 Board Games

Interesting board games that will make you want to play with your child. There are various money board games available for different ages, so your child will not be left behind.

1. Buy It Right

For children ages 6+. This game is for 2 to 4 players.

The game includes:

  • 100 plastic coins
  • A calculator 
  • 40 paper play bills, 
  • Game pieces 
  • Cash register 
  • A Die 
  • Board game. 

The game tackles different math skills like multiplication, division, addition, subtraction and decimals (for older children). The game has 3 levels. Once you master level 1, you start level 2 and end with level 3. The objective of the game is to fill your shopping cart with one item card of each colour and, to make it a bit more challenging collect two item cards of each colour. 

Each player starts with 16$ (one 10& bill, one 5$ bill and one 1$ bill). The game starts with each player rolling one die to find out who starts. Then each player rolls a die in their turn and moves along the board, following the instructions on the board. You then use the calculator to calculate the transaction. With the younger children, it’s recommended to use paper and pencil to calculate or their fingers until they master the math skills required. Every time a player passes the start, they collect 5$. 

2. PayDay

For children ages  8+. This game is for 2 to 6 players

The game includes:

  • The PayDay game board
  • PayDay money
  •  48 mail cards
  •  24 deal cards
  •  6 tokens 
  • A die
  • Loan record pad

The game will take up to 30 minutes to finish a round. The objective of the game is to have the most cash at the end of the game after playing for one or more months.

You start by choosing how many months you will play for, and the ideal is a minimum of 3 months. Choose a player to be the banker; They will give each player their paycheck, which is 3,500$ (two 1,000$ bills, two 500$ bills and five 100$ bills). Another player will be the loan record keeper, who will keep track of all loan transactions. Both players play, and now you choose one player to start. When it’s your turn, you roll the die and move that many times along the calendar board and follow the instructions of where you land.

3. The Allowance Game

For children ages 5+. This game is for 2 to 4 players

The game includes:

  • Dimes 
  • Plastic nickels
  • Quarters, 
  • 1$ and 5$ bills

The game will take up to 30 minutes to finish. This game will teach you how to manage your money. The objective of the game is to collect money by doing chores, having a job and then spending what you earned.

Every player rolls a die, and the highest-rolled die starts. You start by rolling the die and moving along the board, following the instructions on the slot you land on. The person who saves the most money at the end wins.

5 Online Games

Online games are modern solutions for modern times. Suppose your child enjoys using the internet on their phones, tablets, or laptops. Here are 5 free links to help them make the most of their internet time while also keeping screen time in mind.

1. Toy Shop Money Game

This game will teach children to recognize the different values of money. They will be asked to pay for something they will buy. It’s for ages 4+. It has many levels ranging from paying with one type of coin to a mix of coins.

2. Coins Game

This game is for ages 4+. Children will learn to sort, order and count coins.

3. Coin Cruncher

This is for children ages 5 to 8. This tests children’s knowledge by having a timer and choosing the right amount of money asked in pounds or euros.

4. The Change Game

This is for children ages 5 to 8. This tests the ability to calculate whether they got the right amount of change back by choosing the right amount of change as it pops up behind different doors before it disappears.

5. Learn to Count Money

This game offers two levels, beginner and expert. Beginner allows the children to count any number of bills and coins, while expert requires them to count using the least number of bills and coins.

Practice Makes Perfect

There you have it, fun ways to teach your children how to count money when they are buying something, as well as counting the change they receive, both offline and online. I guarantee there will be no more excuses for them to make mistakes after these games because they will have become money geniuses, and remember, mommies and daddies, practice makes perfect.

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