Resources/Money practice: coins and simple change
Grades 1-3•Printable worksheet + answer key•CC0 license

Money practice: coins and simple change

A printable lesson for counting coins and finding totals.

Students identify coin values, add totals, and make simple change.

Print-ready worksheet with answer key and quick teaching tips.

Grades 1-30 problems10 minAnswer key included
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Ready-to-teach

Clear steps, examples, and practice in one printable page.

Misconception-proof

Highlights common mistakes and how to fix them quickly.

Open license

CC0: free to copy, adapt, and share without attribution.

Quick overview

This free money worksheet for grades 1-3 helps students count coins and make change.

Lesson plan snapshot

12-18 min
  • Warm-up (3 min): review coin values with flash cards.
  • Model (5 min): solve the worked example together.
  • Guided practice (4 min): complete problems 1-3 as a group.
  • Independent practice (6 min): finish the remaining problems.

Materials: coin set, pencil

Learning targets

  • Identify pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
  • Count totals by grouping coins.
  • Make change from a dollar for simple prices.

Step-by-step approach

  1. 1Identify each coin and its value.
  2. 2Start with the largest coin and count up.
  3. 3Add remaining coins in order.
  4. 4Check by counting a second time.

Common mistakes

Mistake

Mixing up the dime and nickel.

Try instead

Remember: dime is smaller but worth more (10 cents).

Mistake

Counting coins out of order.

Try instead

Start with quarters, then dimes, nickels, pennies.

Mistake

Forgetting to include pennies.

Try instead

Always add pennies at the end.

Worked example

Guided
You have 1 quarter, 1 dime, and 2 pennies. How much money is that?
  1. Quarter = 25 cents.
  2. Dime = 10 cents, total 35 cents.
  3. 2 pennies = 2 cents, total 37 cents.
Answer: 37 cents

Related resources

Place value

Tens and ones with base-ten models.

View resource

Skip counting

Count by 5s and 10s for coin totals.

View resource

Word problems

Multi-step reasoning practice.

View resource

Practice problems

10 problems • 15 min

Printable worksheet
  1. 1
    You pay 10 dollars for an item that costs 2.75 dollars. How much change do you get?
  2. 2
    You pay 10 dollars for an item that costs 7.8 dollars. How much change do you get?
  3. 3
    A notebook costs 0.75 dollars. What is the total cost for 4 notebooks?
  4. 4
    A notebook costs 1 dollars. What is the total cost for 6 notebooks?
  5. 5
    You pay 20 dollars for an item that costs 3.5 dollars. How much change do you get?
  6. 6
    You pay 20 dollars for an item that costs 4.25 dollars. How much change do you get?
  7. 7
    A notebook costs 1 dollars. What is the total cost for 3 notebooks?
  8. 8
    You pay 10 dollars for an item that costs 4.25 dollars. How much change do you get?
  9. 9
    A notebook costs 1 dollars. What is the total cost for 5 notebooks?
  10. 10
    A notebook costs 2 dollars. What is the total cost for 4 notebooks?

Answer key

10 answers
  1. 11) 7.25
  2. 22) 2.2
  3. 33) 3
  4. 44) 6
  5. 55) 16.5
  6. 66) 15.75
  7. 77) 3
  8. 88) 5.75
  9. 99) 5
  10. 1010) 8

Teacher tips

  • TUse real or plastic coins for hands-on practice.
  • THave students circle the largest coin first.
  • TPractice coin counting in small groups for accuracy.

Parent tips

  • PCount change together at the store.
  • PPlay coin sorting games at home.
  • PPractice making 50 cents in different ways.

Open license

You are free to copy, adapt, and share these materials. No attribution required. Released under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain).