Growing Money Sense

WALT (We Are Learning To)

Understand and explore basic financial concepts through hands-on activities using play money, focusing on recognising, grouping, and making simple amounts with coins.

Learning Objectives

Aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh (Phase 1 - Years 0–3):

Recognise and order New Zealand denominations up to $20 according to their value.
Make groups of like denominations and calculate their value.
Use play money to represent practical financial situations.
Connect counting, grouping, and number language related to money.
Develop early number structure concepts like subitising (recognising quantity without counting) and grouping collections.
Engage in active communication using mathematical language such as more, less, same, combine, separate .

Success Criteria

Students can identify New Zealand coins up to $2.
Students can group coins of the same kind.
Students can make simple amounts (e.g., combining two $1 coins to make $2).
Students can use words like more, less, and same to compare groups of coins.
Students actively participate in the hands-on shopping role-play and demonstrate sharing and counting skills.

Class

14 preschool students

Duration

30 minutes

Lesson Plan Structure

1. Getting Started (5 minutes)

Warm-up Conversation: Show a range of play coins ($1 and $2). Invite students to touch, hold, and name the coins.
WALT Introduction: Write and explain: "We are learning to recognise and use coins to make money amounts."
Engagement: Sing a simple money song incorporating count and coins.

2. Main Activity – 'Mini Market' Play (20 minutes)

Materials:

Play money coins ($1 and $2 coins)
Toy items with price tags ($1 or $2)
Small baskets or bags for “shopping”
Number lines or 10-frames to visually represent coins (if available)

Activity Steps:

Demonstrate: Show how to group coins to make amounts (e.g., two $1 coins make $2). Use clear step-by-step explanations (deliberate acts of teaching).
Hands-on Play: Children take turns as shoppers and shopkeepers in a mini-market. Shoppers choose an item and pay using play money coins.
Counting and Grouping: Assist students to group coins and count totals. Encourage them to subitise small groups (recognise number without counting).
Language Focus: Use specific mathematical vocabulary such as more, less, same, groups, combine, separate, total.
Teacher Conditions: Circulate, scaffold learners’ thinking by asking guiding questions such as “How many $1 coins do you need to make $2?”, “Can you find more or less coins to pay for this?”

3. Reflecting and Connecting (5 minutes)

Group Discussion: Gather children and ask them what they learned about money.
Prompt Questions: "How did you know how much money you needed?", "Did you find it easy or tricky to count the coins?"
Recap: Reinforce vocabulary and concepts from the lesson.
Encourage Sharing: Invite students to show their favourite part of the activity.

Differentiation Strategies

For students needing support: Provide smaller groups of coins to count and use real objects alongside coins to support counting. Use visual aids such as number lines or 10-frames.
For advanced learners: Challenge with making $3 or $4 using combinations of coins. Introduce simple addition with coins.
Dyslexia-friendly options:
- Use large, clear fonts on price tags.
- Display coins and numbers with high contrast.
- Use multi-sensory activities (handling coins, verbal repetition, visual cues).
- Speak slowly and clearly, allowing processing time.

Extension Activity

Create a 'Coin Sorting' challenge where advanced students sort a mixed pile of play money coins into groups by denomination and count totals.
Introduce simple story problems such as "If you have two $1 coins and want to buy an item worth $3, how many more $1 coins do you need?" (using images and coins).

Teaching Considerations & Deliberate Acts of Teaching

Use clear, manageable steps with think-aloud strategies during demonstrations.
Engage students in active recall and connection to prior knowledge using games and physical interaction with coins.
Support problem-solving by modelling counting strategies and grouping aloud.
Provide meaningful contexts connected to everyday experiences such as shopping, fostering curiosity and resilience.
Use mathematical vocabulary consistently to connect informal and formal language.
Adapt and notice individual student responses to guide instruction in the moment.

This lesson plan integrates the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh priorities for early childhood maths, emphasising active learning, hands-on engagement with money, mathematical communication, and foundational number concepts through financial literacy contexts . It employs deliberate acts of teaching by scaffolding and modelling, engaging multiple senses, and connecting learning to real-world situations in age-appropriate ways.