Best way to teach kids about currency denomination is through role play games where they get to pretend shop keepers.
I played a lot of such games with my daughter. Sometime we are vegetable vendors, sometimes toy seller. There are times when she becomes a snack kiosk owner and all other family members become customer.
We do have this fast food stall so such pretend play becomes much more fun.
The key thing to keep in mind is to begin with smaller denomination and things which child is familiar with.
First time we played this game with chocolates viz. Melody and Eclair and Hajmola too. All her favorites.
All these chocolates are priced at Rs 2 or Rs 1. So we used it to learn about coins and denomination upto Rs 5.
Key is to arrange the small shop nicely. Don’t do it for the sack of it. Make sure you set up the shop properly.
It’s a small arrangement , does not take much time. But kids do enjoy a little preparation.
Here is our candy shop.
Had also kept some zip lock bags so that she could pack the chocolates and give it to us (customers). 🙂
Have captured our conversation in a video. Check it out
For denomination of 100,50,20 and 10. We played vegetable vendor. I often take my girls to market while shopping for vegetables and grocery. Every-time I make it a point to tell her how much the thing costs and what we have paid …let her calculate what the vendor must return us. They may do wrong calculation initially but that’s okay. Idea is to learn while having fun.
For higher denomination, we did role play of dress designer. This is a very popular activity where my elder one also participates. They pile up all the clothes on bed and have hours of fun. And in this process she learnt about Rs 1000, 500 and 100 denominations.
The method remained the same only coins were replaced with currency.
Also keep in mind that whenever you are buying something for your kid while coming back from school or visiting market, allow the child to ask the price. Give them money to count and pay the shopkeeper and also check if they got correct change.
Nothing can replace practical learning.
I also designed some printable for re-emphasizing on various currencies and their equivalence.
So we cut it into individual cards and then used it to play a game to find equivalent currency notes of various denomination.
For example a 1000 Rs can be formed by two Rs 500 notes . And five Rs 100 note will make Rs 500.
I gave her printed cards and she matched these like this.
Similarly we did for other denominations.
You can download the free currency printable from here.
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