Have your student begin on START HERE. Have them count the pennies on the mat. They will jump on the pennies while saying, “100 pennies is the same as one dollar.” Then, have them count the nickels on the mat and jump on the nickels while saying, “20 nickels is the same as one dollar.” Continue with the dimes, quarters, and half-dollars. Repeat the exercise. Have students replace the words “is the same as” with “is equal to.”

Put one dollar, two half-dollars, four quarters, ten dimes, twenty nickels, and one hundred pennies in a box. Have students match the coins on the mat with actual coins by placing the actual coin on top of each coin on the mat. (You can also print out fake money found on the following pages.)

Have one student throw a bean bag on one of the words or pictures, penny, nickel, etc. For example, if the bean bag lands on the dime, the whole class does a physical activity (such as running in place or jumping jacks) while saying, “A dime is equal to ten cents.” Then, they will all count to 10. Give all students a turn to throw the bean bag and choose the physical activity. 

Option: You can write down different activities on note cards beforehand and draw a card to choose the activity the class will do for each toss.

Glue pictures of coins and bills on 3 x 5 (or smaller) cards.* Place the cards into a large hat or box. Have students choose a card from the hat. If the student chooses a card that has a picture of a quarter, for example, they will hop to the quarter on the floor mat and say, “I drew a quarter. A quarter is 25 cents.” 

*You can also use money flashcards you might already own.

Give a student an amount, such as 23 cents. Have them jump on the coins on the mat that they would use to make 23 cents. For example, the student may jump on two dimes (while counting by 10’s up to 20) then jump three times on the penny (while adding 1,2,3 to 20) to make 23 cents. Challenge them to make the amount with as few coins as possible, or not using any quarters for larger amounts, etc.