In my area, starting in June, there are several farmers markets that offer a wide variety of seasonal goodies to take home. Everything from fresh fruits and vegetables, to canned jams and pickled garlic, to pints of honey. It is an explosion of different flavors and textures for the taste buds. Though many vendors will take credit cards several of them still prefer the old fashion method of paying with cash. This can lead to a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about how currency is used for exchanged.

My boys enjoyed visiting the farmers market in their youth both locally and wherever we traveled. We would gather some loose change from around the house then stop by the local bank to get some dollar bills, mostly one’s and five’s to make it easy for counting. On Main Street we would visit the different vendors to check out all of the yummy items offered. Larger items such as watermelons we would leave that until the end of the shopping, though reflecting back we should have learned from some of the other families and simply brought our little red wagon.

When we would find something that looked tasty, there would be a discussion about the price to make sure that we had enough money and whether we wanted to spend that much. We encouraged the boys to count out the amount of dollars and cents needed to purchase the item. Mathematical concepts such as addition and subtraction were practiced in this fun and interactive manner. We all got to interact with other people and the boys were able to satisfy their hunger…and…for anyone with young children,  you know this can be a leading factor in many decisions. These interactions helped to bring the abstract concept of large numbers, 100/500/1000, into the real world for them because these numbers simply became $1/$5/$10. Quarters, dimes, and nickels were quickly added to figure out how to make change.

Some activities to try before venturing out into the Farmers Market are:

• Practice exchanging coins. Start out simple with exchanging pennies for nickels, dimes and quarters.
• Move up to creating different ways to exchange the coins for a dollar.
• Model the use of cash when possible while shopping for small purchases.
• Think about simple games that you can play using coins.
• If you child has a piggy bank full of coins offer to exchange them for larger coins and dollar bills.

Helping children how to understand the impact of money will assist them in making wise purchases as they grow into adults. Both of my boys, now adults, are very comfortable with handling currency because they were able to explore this concept in a real world situation that was in a low risk atmosphere where they interacted with adults who supported their exploration of money.

I am a mom who likes to be on the go! Staying home only happens if it’s absolutely freezing or pouring rain, or if someone is contagious. One of our favorite places to visit is the zoo! There are a few “luxuries” that are not included in our membership. However, it doesn’t stop my children from asking for them! As much as I would love to, I can’t justify getting them every Mold-A-Rama or a $2 stick for them to feed the parakeets each time. But I don’t mind taking an opportunity to teach my daughter a life lesson: In order to get the things you want, you will need money. And we need to work to earn money.

Even as infants and toddlers, my children were expected to do their share to help with cleaning up their toys and putting their dirty clothes in the hamper. But by 3, my daughter was understanding how important her help was to me. We discussed the chores I expected from her daily (clearing dishes, cleaning toys, etc.). We tried out a couple chore charts that listed in words and pictures what job was expected. We finally settled on a magnetic one to encourage my two-year-old son to “work” as well. My children were expected to do all (there were only 5) their chores everyday.

“Everybody helps.” That was our chant to help them understand the importance of doing their part in the work. The work in the house needs everyone’s participation because we are all on the same team. It’s not just Mom and/or Dad’s job to do the work that the children are capable of doing themselves. And I believe that this will lay the foundation for my two children to continue to be responsible as they grow older – to have good work ethic. Eventually, they will become adults who contribute to their world.

For a day’s work, my daughter earned twenty-five cents. After she earned them, she would trade in 8 quarters for two dollars. And if she didn’t spend it all right away, she would even exchange for five and ten dollar bills. In the beginning, she didn’t trade for many big bills – she was so proud to spend the money she earned, $2 at a time! Eventually, she would earn enough money to buy a feeding stick for her brother as well. Knowing that she needed to work to earn her money helped her not ask for me to buy her something with every visit. She would patiently wait until she earned enough money. I was so proud of her!

After the novelty of earning and spending wore off and she was saving enough money, we started talking about how it is kind to give money away. It started out with some of the donation boxes we can find around the zoo – definitely a great cause. My daughter would ask me to take some money out of her zoo money (that’s what we called it since that’s where she used her earnings) to donate.

Not only am I proud of my daughter’s character and where her heart is, but I am encouraged by the potential of where her knowledge is going on this skill.  I feel like she will know the value and importance of money, how it shouldn’t be wasted or taken lightly.  I feel like she can evolve with both her chores to earn and her personal giving to causes that inspire her.  It becomes my job to find those new opportunities that balance earning and giving, and I look forward to that challenge.

This got me thinking about how activities like this can support children’s ideas about money and how much things cost.  You can set up your own lemonade stand with the kids, break out the cash registers, use real or pretend money and let the commerce begin.

If you are in a neighborhood that has a little foot traffic, you might be able to set up the stand in front of your program.  If that is not a choice, set it up in the front room of your program and allow the children to be the buyers and the sellers.  You can keep it running until the end of the day and then sell to the parents as they arrive to take their children home.

Take a stroll through the site and see if there are any that might be appropriate for your group.  If you are studying money this month, these sheets will reinforce the concepts.

Using the cash register in the house keeping area makes a lot of sense if you have set up this area as place where money might actually exchange hands such as grocery store, a bank, a post office, a restaurant, or a beauty salon.  Make sure you mark the different items that are for sale with simple price tags so that children can begin to associate the price number with the money. If you don’t want to permanently mark your items, you can create small price tags on strings that can be tied to the objects while the housekeeping area is set up this way.

Say, for example, you create a grocery store in your program.  Set up the shelves with all of the pretend food and put price tags on everything.  Have the shopping carts ready and put the cash register on a table for “check out”.  Be sure to have shopping bags available so that children can bag their groceries.  It will make the most sense if the prices are in round numbers like $1 or $5 rather than $2.99 or $5.25.

I also like the idea of creating “shopping lists” so the children can also make the connection between writing things down and reading them later.  These are nice and easy to make.

Be sure to have wallets or purses with the pretend money inside so that children can spend their money at the store.

Toy cash registers have come a long way since my children were little.  Ours had buttons with numbers and a big button that opened the drawer.  That was all.  Inside, there was space for the pretend money.  Funnily enough, I actually remember that the money that came with the register didn’t quite fit in the drawer.

Now they make cash registers that have small computers in them so that when buttons are pushed, the numbers come up on the screen.  Children can add up their shopping items and then total them.  Many of these new-fangled machines also have scanners that actually work.

The cash register is another great way to enhance the money experience for children.  They are usually a highly coveted item in the classroom, so it might be nice to have more than one around.

There are all sorts of ways you are probably already incorporating money into your classroom.  I assume you have a play cash register with different kinds of currency and a variety of ways to set up your dramatic play area that includes these items.  Just as you would label items in your classroom with words, so too, can you label them with symbols.  On the back of the cash register, tape a large $ sign, and reinforce the concept that this symbol stands for money (dollars).  If you ever collect money for class trips or donations, be sure to put that $ symbol on the envelope or on the collection can.  Be sure to tell the children that when they see that symbol, it always means money.

The symbolic representation of money – $ – is a very fundamental notion of “this means that.”  As children begin making the connections between symbols and their meanings, they are developing the skills required to read and compute.

I only found one set of international currency available for purchase on the Internet, but I have to think that there are more out there.  The one I found is from Great Britain, which wouldn’t be my first choice, but might be an interesting way to start a collection.

You might create activities that have children compare and contrast American money with British money.  Introduce the symbols ($, ¢, £) and have them search for them on the bills.  Explore the people whose faces appear on the bills and discuss the difference between a President and a Queen.  Have children trade the money and then sort it and categorize it.  The ideas are endless.

It might be fun to get creative on the computer and create your own classroom money complete with children’s pictures in the middle and a picture of your classroom on the other side. I would definitely laminate the bills as they will not last the morning if you don’t.  Imagine how children will take an interest in this new currency if they see themselves on it?  Since the egocentric child is more engaged in activities that involve them personally they may be more apt to play with and spend their own money in your classroom.

You could also create a paper template and have the children color and decorate it.  Take their pictures and insert them into the center.  Make color copies, print, cut, and laminate.

This website allows children to design their own money and then print it off.  It doesn’t allow for a lot of creativity but it might be another interesting addition to your month’s activities.