I came up with this coin sorting activity when my oldest was 4 years old. He learned a little bit about money, worked on his sorting/matching skills, and kept busy at the table for quite a while. Its so simple because you probably have everything you need already — just pull it out and get the kids started!
- Take 4 paper plates and label them for pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. You can use words or numbers, whichever you think will work best for your kids. I chose to use numbers for younger kids who already knew numbers but couldn’t read those big words yet.
- Put one coin on each corresponding plate so they know what that particular coin looks like and can match it.
- Have them pick a coin from a bowl of assorted coins and show them how to find which plate it matches to.
You can either stay right with them and continue to help them or let them work on it alone. Caution: if your kids are young enough that they will be putting coins in their mouths, don’t leave them alone with this 🙂 Otherwise, its a great activity they can be busy working on while you are trying to get some things done!
Note: This is real life! My 3 year olds were maybe a little young; they lasted a couple of minutes. They couldn’t figure out the sorting very well and soon were just playing with the coins and plates, “making cakes”! It still kept them busy at the table for a good 30 minutes, so I have nothing to complain about!
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