Money

Maths you can hold in your hand

Money is where number sense meets the real world: coins to recognise, amounts to add, change to work out. It makes addition and subtraction matter, because the answer buys something.

This path runs from naming coins to solving two-step money problems and giving change. Start wherever it fits and work along the line.

The path

Four steps, from coins to change

Each step is a short five-minute game. They start with recognising coins and notes, then add amounts, solve problems and work out change.

4 steps · Year 1 to Year 3

The everyday

Why money?

Money gives abstract arithmetic a reason. Adding 25 and 30 is easier to care about when it is pennies towards a toy, and working out change is subtraction that children actually want to get right.

Five minutes a day along this path builds confidence with the arithmetic of everyday life. When these feel easy, the rest of the games by year are waiting.

Keep exploring

Other paths through the curriculum

Each path takes one strand of maths and lays its games out in the order they build, the same way this one does.

Follow the school year instead