Money Math Games & Apps for Counting Coins and Bills

Anytime I can use games for my students to practice math skills, I jump at them. I've used these beginner money games and apps in my math center rotations, and it's often difficult to tear the children away from them at the end of the rotation.

Playing interactive counting money games is a fun way to help elementary school students learn how to count coins and bills, and how make change. These games provide feedback right away, so kids learn faster. And they offer an endless amount of practice.

Money worksheets are a very blahhhhh way to learn about money, according to every child I've ever worked with. So I'm always looking for ways to do away with those curs-ed worksheets. These games definitely fit the bill.

I've also included links to several lessons that use activities with money - useful for homeschooling parents as well as classroom teachers.

from K12

In the app world, K12 offers a free download from iTunes called Counting Bills and Coins. It's a bit of a misnomer, as this app helps kids learn to do a lot more than that. In addition to counting money, kids play the role of cashiers who make change, and they calculate equivalent amounts, using different valued coins. The difficulty level ranges from the most basic counting up to $20 to more complex problems, making change up to $99. Students can see just the front or the fronts and backs of bills and coins.

This app can be run on the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. It require iOS 3.0 or later.

If you have a Kindle and a child age 4-7, check out the Peter Pig's Money Counter app on Amazon. Appealing graphics and sound keep young students entertained as they learn the value of coins, and learn fun facts about money from other students.

Visa, Inc., designed the app with three beginner levels. In the first, kids identify coins and their values. In the second, they calculate the value of a selection of coins. And in the third, they estimate the relative values of two groups of coins.

The Peter Pig app is also available for other Android devices on the Google Play Store. Or play it online at the PrimaryGames website.

Illuminations is the premier site for math lessons and interactives. The Coin Box provides kids with several choices. They can use it to count coins on the board, collect coins for the amount shown, exchange coins for equal amounts, calculate change from coins displayed, or calculate coins from values displayed.

When the child checks her answer, it tells her if she's done Great!, or the answer is Too much or Too little. If the answer is not right, she can adjust the amount to correct it.

She can put the coins on the workboard loosely, or switch back and forth to a value grid of the coins. This scaffolding is a visual clue to the value of each coin. (The value grid is also commonly seen on standardized math test problems.)

from Harcourt School Publishers

Harcourt's Counting Money Game takes a simple well-ordered approach to learning money values. A set of coins ordered from greatest to least appears. The child types in the total amount of the coins' value.

If he gets it wrong, the prompt tells him if the amount he picked is too much or too little. If he gets it wrong a second time, he gets more guidance, such as "Count by tens, then fives, then ones." If he gets it wrong a third time, the game counts the coins for him and shows the correct total.

After several problems, he sees a brief money cartoon and has the chance to play again.

from Toon University

Kids will have fun counting coins at Toon University. They pick the coins to equal the amount at the top of the screen. They can drop them in the cup, down the slide, or flick them off the thumb. If the child chooses a coin with too great a value, the narrator tells her to pick one of a lesser amount.

The cup displays the total amount in it as each coin is added. So this is a good game for kids just learning and who need lots of value clues. Please note this is a flash-based game, not compatible with iPads as of this writing.

from ABCya!

In Learn to Count Money, kids earn fish for the bowl when they get correct answers. If the child has a wrong answer, the board is wiped clean and he must try again. There are no prompts to help him count, or to tell him if he has too much or too little.

There are 3 levels. In level 1, kids pick coins to equal the money value for amounts less than a dollar. The money value of each coin is displayed on it. Level 2 uses paper money in denominations up to $100, as well as the coins. Level 3 requires more complex combinations of bills and coins.

NumberNut has several activities for kids to practice counting, comparing, adding and subtracting coins and money values. The activities have multiple choice or yes/no answers. Each activity has a set of 10 randomly selected questions, so kids can play it as often as they wish. There are 16 different activities.

from Armor Games

The object of Pocket Change is to pick the exact number of coins to match the number of coins and amount shown on the left. You have to pick your change correctly eight times to get to the next level. You have 50 seconds to answer all eight correctly. If you check the box for Currency Help Mode, the value of each coin along the bottom is displayed.

Each level is progressively harder. But you get more time at each level to select your coins.