At some point, I will write an article regarding how important financial education is for children. But, before a preschooler can learn about how money really works (avoid buying on credit, earn interest, etc.), he first has to have a basic understanding of currency. What is a dollar? How many pennies are there in a nickel?
I am sure they are out there, but I put together some money worksheets to help my preschooler learn the basics. They are very simple, just real-size pictures of coins and what coin they equal. At this stage, I don’t cover every coin combination, because my preschooler does not have the patience to put 100 pennies on a worksheet to get a dollar. But, it is a start, and we actually have a lot of fun with this little game.
The money worksheets are at the bottom of this post, but first I wanted to describe how we play our little money game with them.
Preschool Money Game
Like many preschoolers, my son has a piggy bank. (It is actually just a bowl in his drawer, but who said it has to be a pig?) He earns money by doing extra chores or going above and beyond to be helpful. It is just a few nickels here or a quarter or two there, but it adds up. When we go to the store, he knows not to ask for anything because he knows we will just ask him if he has enough money.
The problem is, it is rude to have him sit there and count out pennies, nickels, and dimes while folks have to wait in line behind us. So…The goal of this little preschool money activity is to get him to trade his coins in for dollars. At the same time, he is learning the basics of currency.
This is how we play the money game…
Before we go to the store, Edison grabs his change bowl and his currency worksheets. Then, starting with the pennies, he places the coins on the sheet until he has covered the pictures. He counts them out and tells me what coin he should get in return. Then, I act as the bank and trade him the appropriate coin for his. Simple. He goes through his coins and trades up until he has as many dollar bills as possible.
Tip: We always start with the pennies and work our way up. That way, he isn’t sitting there with 25 pennies and 3 quarters at the end.
When I first put together this activity, it took FOREVER! He was always getting his quarters and nickels mixed up. Plus, my little perfectionist had to have the coins perfectly arranged on the worksheet. Now, it goes pretty quickly, and he actually has lots of fun doing it.
Preschool Currency Worksheet Downloads
 | Preschool Currency Worksheet – Pennies(Click to Download) |
 | Preschool Currency Worksheet – Quarters(Click to Download) |
 | Preschool Currency Worksheet – Dollars(Click to Download) |
Other Preschool Money Resources
Brain Quest Workbook
(Find out more or buy through Amazon…)
I have the Brain Quest quiz cards for preschoolers, and they have questions about money. But it does not look like they cover it in the preschool workbook. The Kindergarten version does though, so this is an option if you want to give your preschooler a head start with more than just understanding money.