Learn to Count Money: US Coins and Bills, Step by Step

This is a printable workbook designed for children ages 5 to 8 who are learning to count US money. It teaches the skill from nothing. Lesson 1 is what money is for. The last lessons are adding prices, paying, and counting the change. You teach it at home, one short lesson at a time, and every lesson tells you what to say. You do not need a teaching background.

What your child will be able to do by the end

• Name the penny, nickel, dime and quarter and say what each is worth
• Count any mix of coins, starting with the biggest value
• Make an amount in different ways, and with the fewest coins
• Compare two amounts of money
• Read and write amounts like 35¢ and $1.25
• Count $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills together with coins
• Add prices and decide whether there is enough money
• Work out the change by counting up

How a lesson works

Each of the 28 lessons is two pages that face each other.

1. The teaching page (left). The idea in a few plain sentences, a drawn picture, one or two worked examples with the steps written out, and a "Watch out" box that names the mistake most children make in that lesson. A strip at the bottom is for you: what to say, what to watch for, how to tell your child has it, and what to do if not.
2. The practice page (right). "Do it with me" questions with the first step already printed, "Now you try" questions to do alone, and a "Quick check" with no help. All right means go on to the next lesson.

A lesson takes 20 to 25 minutes. Page 3 shows a whole lesson, and page 4 shows a practice page filled in, so you can see what a finished one looks like before you start.

The 28 lessons, in order

• Part 1, meet the coins (lessons 1 to 6): what money is for; the penny and the ¢ sign; the nickel; the dime, which is smaller than the nickel but worth more; the quarter; telling all four apart
• Part 2, count the coins (lessons 7 to 12): pennies by ones, nickels by fives, dimes by tens, then mixed coins, always starting with the biggest value and counting on
• Part 3 (lessons 13 to 17): quarters by 25s, all four coins together, making an amount in more than one way, the fewest coins, comparing two amounts
• Part 4, dollars and bills (lessons 18 to 21): 100 cents make a dollar, writing $1.25 with the dollar sign and the point, $1, $5, $10 and $20 bills, bills and coins together
• Part 5, use your money (lessons 22 to 28): adding prices, "do I have enough?", making change by counting up, change from dollar bills, word problems, saving and choosing, and running the play store

After each part there is a mixed review and a check-up. The answer key names the lesson to go back to for every check-up question.

What is inside (106 pages)

• For you, at the front (8 pages): start here, how a lesson works, a filled-in practice page, all 28 lessons at a glance, a placement page so a child who knows some of it can start in the middle, a progress chart, and how to get the play money ready.
• 28 lessons (56 pages) with 5 mixed reviews and 5 check-ups (10 pages), and a certificate for the end.
• 10 extra practice pages, one for each group of lessons, for when a quick check does not go well.
• 3 games: Race to a Dollar (a trading game), Mystery Coins (8 riddle cards) and More or Less.
• A play store (7 pages): how to run it at four levels, 16 price tags with pictures, a snack stand menu with order cards, 12 shopping-list cards and a cash drawer mat. The lessons from 22 on use the same things and prices.
• Cut-out play money (5 pages): 21 pennies, 18 nickels, 21 dimes and 10 quarters, 20 play bills ($1, $5, $10, $20), number strips for counting by 5s, 10s and 25s, and a hundred chart.
• If your child is stuck (1 page): the eleven places children most often get stuck, with something to try for each.
• A full answer key (4 pages) for all 513 questions.

What you download

• The whole book in color, US Letter (8.5 x 11 in).
• The whole book in color, A4 (210 x 297 mm).
• The progress chart as a fillable PDF, to check off lessons on a computer.
• A print pack (ZIP): the whole book in a low-ink black and white edition in both paper sizes, the answer key as its own file in both sizes, the play money and play store pages as their own file in both sizes (to print again when coins get lost), and a one-page START-HERE.

Good to know

• This book teaches US money: cents and dollars, with US coin names and US spelling (color, practice, math). Families outside the United States can use it to teach US money, but it does not teach any other country's coins.
• The coins and bills are simple drawings made for learning, not pictures of real money. Coins are circles with the value written on them, in their true sizes compared with each other (the dime is the smallest), with the penny in copper and a ridged edge on the dime and quarter. Bills are plain play money. Real coins in a jar make the lessons even better, and the book tells you which ones to collect.
• The penny is taught in full. The US Mint stopped making pennies for everyday use in 2025, but they are still money and still in use.
• Every answer was worked out twice: once when the question was made, and again by a separate check that reads each coin, bill and price tag back from the finished drawing. "Fewest coins" answers are proved by trying every other set of coins. The book is not built if any answer differs.
• It covers the money skills usually taught in first and second grade in the United States. It prints no standards codes.
• It makes no promise about how fast any child will learn. It is a teaching book for a math skill, not financial advice.
• Both paper sizes are in the download. Print at 100% or "actual size". You can print any page as often as you like.
• For your own children or your own class. Please do not share or resell the files.
• The questions were generated by a program written for this book, with AI assistance. All pictures are drawn by that program. No AI image tools were used.
• This is a digital download. Nothing is mailed to you, and you need a printer or a print shop.