Counting Coins {Day Before Spring Break Version!}

The day before Spring Break is always fun…right!? This week, I decided that I had to come up with something creative to keep my kids' attention. Friday morning, our last day before Spring Break, was pretty rough. I knew I had to be on my toes when the kids returned from lunch if I had any chance of making it through the afternoon!!!

I had prepared a whole basket of plastic eggs filled with play coins. (Probably would have had them EVEN MORE engaged if they were they real thing, LOL!) 

When we came back up from lunch, I grabbed the basket and held it, waiting for their attention. That was quick! They were all staring at me, hands crossed. I’m sure they were thinking they were getting candy. I told them that they had to listen to my directions carefully. They had to carefully choose an egg from the basket as I walked around, BUT they could not SHAKE it or OPEN it! They had to hold it carefully. (I really stressed this and got them all excited.)

After I walked around and everyone chose their special egg, I told them that they could carefully crack their eggs open on their desks. Then, they were to count the coins inside. I walked around again and everyone that could tell me the correct amount got some candy. If they were incorrect, I showed them the correct amount. Then, I simply took their coins and gave them a different handful and had them try one more time for candy.

This kept them engaged for 10-15 minutes and I was feeling thrilled! Next, I gave prizes/candy for various things:

*The person with the most money. (Who has more than $1? Who has more than $2? Those were the questions I asked to determine who had the most, instead of asking how much everyone had!)

*The person with the least money.

*Anyone who had exactly one half-dollar.

*Anyone who had exactly 4 pennies.

*Anyone who had exactly 3 quarters.

*Anyone who had an odd number of coins.

You could come up with your own tasks. "Anyone who can show me 25 cents in two different way with the coins have", etc. 

They LOVED IT! This kept us practicing identifying and counting coins on an exciting and fidgety day before Spring Break, plus it was a “fun” activity. They thought it was part of some kind of party or something. Seriously….

We also played Money Bingo that was part of a huge money pack that was purchased from Primary Punch. 

If you aren’t on Spring Break yet and you are worried about engagement next week, this might only fill an hour or so of your time, but it’s worth a trip to The Dollar Tree for plastic eggs! Hurry! J