I confess, the idea for this activity came from me trying to get the kids to do some work for me. Yes, I was being lazy and stumbled into a math activity. Let me explain. Like many people, we have loose change at various places in our house. Wherever we happen to empty our pockets or bags is where we will drop a handful of change. Rarely Occasionally, I go through the house and collect all that change in a bag. We then transfer that to piggy banks, and when they are full, we bring them to a change sorting machine or the bank.
I really didn't feel like putting all the change in the piggy banks myself so I asked the kids if they wanted to help by counting coins and placing them in banks. They did! Woo-hoo! We happen to have a number of piggy banks on hand since we are big Disney fans and I've bought a few Disney piggy banks in the past. This activity is pretty simple and only requires a few items. Read on to find out more and don't forget to check out this Make A Number Math Game.
You will need:
- Coins (a mix of different kinds)
- Piggy bank (I'll forgive you for not having a Disney bank)
- Paper
- Pencil or crayon
Cassie
Looks like they had a fun time counting!
Crafty Mischief
Fun! And fyi Vicky, you are pretty much the last person I would call a lazy mommy! 🙂
Anonymous
You weren't being lazy, you were thinking outside the box. Not only did they learn some math, they learned to help. I've recently started asking my kids to do a lot more things for me because they need to learn how to do these things and to be helpful around the house. Sometimes these moments come from initial laziness on my part but then it becomes educational.
Paula Parrish
I love getting the little ones involved with real life skills. Great Idea. ;o)
Jennifer Fischer
I love it when learning comes out of laziness. I call this a Happy Accident. We have them all the time. Here's one example - http://jennifischer.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-accidents-learning-with-letters.html
Kids Creative Chaos
What a great way to kill two birds with one stone. Now, you can go shopping!
tricia
Looks like this kept them busy for awhile! We are just startiing to explore money now!