When Jim empties out his pockets at night, he deposits his change into boxes by his bed. He currently has a big stash of pennies, so I told the girls that they could help me count them out. I gave them each a bunch of paper bags and told them to put ten pennies in each bag.
After they had each collected ten bags, I helped them write out the numbers 10, 20, 30, etc. on the bags so they could see how the numbers added up to 100. I explained how these 100 pennies equaled a dollar, and told them that, in exchange for their help counting, I was giving them each a dollar to spend on an item in the Target bargain aisle the next day. They were very excited.
I’m not always very good at explaining things, so I’m glad this exercise seemed to work to show them the value of a dollar. Or at least, the value of getting bribed to do household chores!
Great idea! Of course, they may just get the finance gene from their Dad. Regardless, it is never too young to teach them about money. Good job, Mom!