Have students begin on START HERE. A student will step on the penny and say “penny.” Then, step on the nickel and say “nickel.” Have them continue to the end of the mat.

Place a 10 dollar bill, a five-dollar bill, a one-dollar bill, a half-dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny in a box or on the floor. (You can also print out fake money found on the following pages.) Have students match the bills and coins on the mat.

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, all of the 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, then 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 any 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.