(Recommended for children ages 5 to 9)

"Grandma, please buy me that!" "Grandpa, will you get me this?"

Sometimes young children have little sense of how much things cost. They're bombarded with television advertising convincing them that they need the latest walking, talking doll or that they must have the newest version of a video game or that the only way to start their day is with the coolest, crunchiest, sweetest — and most expensive cereal on the market.

By the time children enter school, they begin to identify coins and the value of those coins. In first grade, students practice counting money with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. By second grade, students should be able to count money amounts using quarters, half-dollars and dollars. As children get lots of "hands on" practice counting coins, they begin to develop their "money sense."

To help children as they learn about money, try a few of the following activities:

• Lay an assortment of coins on a table. Ask the child to show you 13 cents or 24 cents.


• Give him several coins of different values (e.g. one quarter, one dime, two nickels, three pennies) and ask him to tell how much money he has. Keep changing the mix of coins.


• By putting a coin under a piece of paper and rubbing a crayon across the top of the paper, the child can create crayon rubbings of different coins. After making the rubbings, she can write the value of each coin next to the crayon rubbing.


• Set up a pretend store by cutting pictures of food items or toys from magazines, newspapers or catalogs and gluing them on index cards. On the index card, write the price of the item. Children can buy items by counting out the correct amount of money. Older children can practice paying with larger bills and counting out the change.


• Reinforce money skills by playing the "Coin Toss Game." You'll need a variety of coins — about 10 or 20 in all. Decide who will be "heads" and who will be "tails." Let your grandchild "toss" each coin and keep it or give it to you, depending on whether it is "heads" or "tails." When all the coins have been tossed, let him calculate the value of each person's winnings. The person whose coins have the higher value is the winner.

Books for Learning About Money

For more on money concepts, read one of these books with a child:

This information is taken from OASIS Tutors Count: Using Math-related Storybooks and Activities in OASIS Tutoring Sessions, Copyright 1996, The OASIS Institute..