Economics for Preschool Children

As the Weather Changes...Make Some Change!!

Do you have a change jar? Do you carry around heavy coins? These can be a source of easy and fun economic activities for young children. As weather changes...change right along with it!! Here's how:  Take out your change jar of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters when your children need a new quiet activity.  Be sure your children know not to put money in their mouth and continue to watch them.  It’s also a good idea to wash hands after handling money.

Money Games  

  Make a game out of sorting the coins into piles according to denomination.  Younger children can use shape, color and size to determine the correct pile.  As you work together, mention the names of the different coins.  

Sort and Teach!!

Line up each type of coin and count how many are in each category. Which group has the most coins? Which has the fewest? Count the pennies one by one.  Older kids can practice counting the nickels and dimes by fives and tens. Show how to write the cent and dollar signs.

   Sorting things by similarities is a very useful skill for reading, science and math.  Teach young children to count by touching each object. By teaching coin names, we are helping children to understand our monetary system.

    

Savvy Pig!! 

Adults can talk about how people earn money and how your family uses money to buy things.   The Savvy Pig savings banks help children collect coins and watch their money disappear when spent. They are divided into save, spend, donate, and invest to help teach children to save and give to charity. The Money Jar program is another. These help children learn early about choices and opportunity costs. The money people spend on one choice is not available for other things.

Take a Closer Look

  Use a magnifying glass to study pictures, numbers, and words on coins. What do they mean? Why are they on the coins? State quarters are especially interesting.

  Look in the paper or at stores to see how much things cost.   Children can make simple copies of the coins by rubbing over the surface of the metal.  Older children will like to play an exchange game where you trade pennies for nickels, dimes from a pile of coins.

  Simple games are based on “heads or tails.” Cover three coins with cups, one being tails. Move them around and ask children to pick up the cup with the tails coin. 

Play Store -- Great Economics Activity

Teach children to flip a coin and call heads or tails similar to a football game. Use heads or tails to decide who goes first.

   A favorite economics activity is playing store. Children set up a store, create or use real coins, determine or negotiate prices, and sell toys to each other just for fun. 

Savvy Piggy: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Savvy-Generation-LMSP-Blue-Pig/dp/B0002HRWBQ

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
Shetches: Mark Nowicki

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.