Financial Literacy Resources

It can be hard to find good websites that allow students to practice their money skills with Canadian coins. Here are a few I’ve found that work:

Money Master on Math is Fun website: A great game for adding and subtracting coins to achieve a goal value.
Change Maker on Fun Brain website: This site allows you to change the currency and the level of difficulty. Suitable for someone who has learned to make change and is looking to practice.
April 20 is “Talk With Your Kids About Money Day” BMO has put together this website. If you click on “home program” you have access to age appropriate lessons for kids (lessons are in pdf format but some have links to good sites and videos). A good one in the age 8-10 year category is called “Impulse Shopping” and links to a fun little video: “Cha-Ching: Please Little Spender, Think” that reminds kids to think about their spending options and see that trade-offs are made when money is spent.

Heads and Tails: This game is played with 2 people. To start, gather a a handful of coins. One player calls either heads or tails, and the other player drops the coins onto a surface such as a table or the floor (either from his/her hand or out of a cup). The person who has heads works with all the coins that land on heads. The person who has tails works with all the coins that land on tails. Each player counts his or her coins, and the one with the coins having the highest value wins the round.
$100 Word Challenge: Each letter of the alphabet is worth $1 more than the letter before it, starting with $1 for letter A. Use word lists or names to find out the total value of each word.This is a simple concept, yet the kids love it! Students who are usually reluctant to do sums are often eager to work out how much their names add up to. Anyone that is lucky enough to have a x, y or z in their name gets very excited!
Coin Wars: Start with the same coins in two different cups (one cup for each player). Start with a small number of coins so your first game doesn’t take too long. Then play the game just like war. Without looking, pick a coin from your cup and put it on the table. Whoever has the highest valued coin gets to keep both coins. Continue and keep refilling your cup with the coins you collect. When you collect all of the coins, you win!

“Pigs Will Be Pigs—Fun with Math & Money” by Amy Axelrod
“Berenstain Bears, Trouble with Money” by Stan & Jan Berenstain
“One Cent, Two Cent, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money” (Cat in the Hat) by Dr. Seuss
“The Money Tree” by Sarah Stewart
“The Kids’ Money Book” by Jamie Kyle McGillian
“The $1.00 Word Riddle Book” by Marilyn Burns
“Can I Have Some Money Please?” by Twyla Prindle
“A Chair for My Mother” by Vera B. Williams
“Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney
“A Money Adventure – Earning, Saving, Spending, Sharing” by Neale S. Godfrey