
783 original hands-on activities for kids (as well as a compiled archive of ideas from all over the web) with a strong focus on inquiry, design thinking, problem-solving skills, imaginative / creative thinking, nature, drama, learning with movement, music, arts integration and PLAY! - Creative Genius Kids! - for teachers and homeschoolers
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Googie Math / Art
Free Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NP0t-fn9RroznPtcnbsyS_y43rpV9J6h/view?usp=sharing
Practice your money skills and get creative with Shel Silverstein's "The Googies are Coming," from Where the Sidewalk Ends. What is a googie? Who knows?! Have kids write a definition for a googie. Next have them make a snapshot image of a googie. Then kids add up the cost of certain children! Once they figured out the different costs, they become googies and choose 5 children (draw/ add up the cost).
Note: Tell kids googies want children to play with, so no one gets scared!
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Kid Made Monopoly: Adding & Subtracting Decimals
Practice adding and subtracting decimals by having students create a class game of monopoly! Kids design a debit card and balance a checkbook. Check out my post at We Are Teachers! Click here for free printables!
Labels:
addition,
decimals,
math,
math / art,
money,
subtraction
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Playground Design
Labels:
addition,
math,
math / art,
money,
regrouping
Friday, April 26, 2013
mini Pulley
materials:
empty thread spool
string
2 cups
pencil
tape
Kids construct a miniature pulley and discover how wheels can help reduce friction! Students keep one cup on the ground and have the other cup suspended in the air (both attached to the pulley). They place 20 pennies in the cup on the ground. Then, they place a few pennies at a time into the other cup. How many pennies are needed to raise the cup off the ground?
Then, they remove the thread spool. They place the string connecting the cups over the pencil. They do the same experiment above (20 pennies to one cup and add a few at a time to the other). How many pennies are needed to lift the cup off the ground?
Kids "compare the number of pennies needed to raise the cup with and without the rotating spool." Visit Education.com for more details (experiment called SHOWTIME from Janice VanCleave's book Machines for kids)!
Construction:
tape two 6 inch pieces of string to a table
insert a pencil into an empty thread spool
attach the pencil to the hanging string
cut a long piece of string (depends on height of table) and attach to both cups
Labels:
building,
counting,
engineering,
force,
friction,
money,
motion,
physics,
pulley,
push/pull,
science,
simple machines,
weight
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Mega Penny Project
The Mega Penny Project: explore value, weight, area, and the size of a stacked pile of lots of pennies!
Link for image above: one hundred million
Link for image above: one hundred million
Labels:
area / perimeter,
math,
measuring,
money,
technology tools for teachers,
weight
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Heads vs Tails
Kids shake a group of various coins, cupped in both hands, and drop! Then, they compare heads and tails: writing fractions and coin amount.
Labels:
fractions,
games,
greater than / less than,
math,
money
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Big Spender or Bill Saver?
This economics project is by Emily Stout at We are Teachers (2nd grade lesson plan). Kids explore wants / needs as they balance money in Kid Town.
In order to have money, they startup a business. They collaborate, design store signage, create a window display (out of poster board), and market their product. However, they have expenses (rent). Plus, their list of needs comes before their wants. Students find that they might not always be able to get what they want with their earnings.
Who's a big spender and who's a bill saver? Click here for the full activity!
In order to have money, they startup a business. They collaborate, design store signage, create a window display (out of poster board), and market their product. However, they have expenses (rent). Plus, their list of needs comes before their wants. Students find that they might not always be able to get what they want with their earnings.
Who's a big spender and who's a bill saver? Click here for the full activity!
Labels:
economics,
money,
role play,
social studies
Monday, February 18, 2013
Pimp My Ride
Labels:
drawing,
economics,
money,
parts of speech,
transportation,
writing
Friday, February 15, 2013
Sneakers
Converse All Star: Sneaker Design (hit create)
Ways to use it:
Have kids name their shoe design and write why someone should buy their shoe. What makes it so cool?
Have kids compare their shoe designs. Are there any similarities? (graphing)
Kids can create word problems. If someone bought three pairs of their sneakers, how much would the total cost be?
Older students can explore color combinations (probability)
Ways to use it:
Have kids name their shoe design and write why someone should buy their shoe. What makes it so cool?
Have kids compare their shoe designs. Are there any similarities? (graphing)
Kids can create word problems. If someone bought three pairs of their sneakers, how much would the total cost be?
Older students can explore color combinations (probability)
Labels:
economics,
graphing,
money,
probability,
technology tools for teachers,
writing
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Sand Castle Experiment
Labels:
absorption,
counting,
estimating,
fractions,
math,
measuring,
money,
outdoors,
science,
spring / summer,
surface tension,
water
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Baloney Belly
Optional Craft (kids love this craft!) - Create your very own Billy. Have kids make an oversized construction paper head with a hole cut out where his mouth is. Tape a sandwich bag underneath. Kids can throw the items he eats in his mouth (kids draw paper items). You could also tape the head to a brown, paper lunch bag or tissue box (both with a hole for Billy's snack items).
Writing - What would you offer Billy for "another 50 cents?" ($1.50)
Saturday, January 19, 2013
18 Flavors
Optional: Hanging up next to the station, write the price of one scoop. Have kids purchase their scoops of ice cream before measuring them to practice their money skills.
Writing: Have kids write a recipe for the ice cream flavor they invented! What will they call their flavor?
Click here for ice cream fractions and here for Sweet Shop Math! Click here for the full lesson with free printables!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Smart
President's day, poetry, and math: Have kids do coin rubbings in the open squares. Then, they write the coin amount on the line. For more president's day fun click here!
Labels:
math,
money,
poetry,
presidents day,
shel silverstein
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Cookie Rocks and Mining
2 activities, Science and Economics:
1. Cookie Rocks - This experiment is inspired by Kinderpond's "C is for Cookie." Have all students sit around a large table. Give each kid a cookie. Then, have them destroy it!
Weathering
First, have them experiment with a toothpick. Next, give them an ice cube to see the effects of ice on a cookie. They'll use the cube to chop at the cookie. Then, hand out an eyedropper to represent rain. Kids squirt water on the cookie. Note: You could even use a spray bottle.
Erosion
Once their finished demolishing their cookie, pass out straws. Have kids blow (wind) their cookie crumbles (rock fragments) toward the center of the table. Then, sweep their crumbs into a pile.
Deposition
Add a couple drops of water to their crumbs (if needed) and squish them all together.
2. Cookie Mining Economics - Check out the Museum of Science and Industry's Cookie Mining Project. Kids excavate chocolate chips from a cookie; but, first they have to purchase the materials they need and stay within their price range!
energy resources (renewable vs. non-renewable) - You can also use this activity to explore . Kids get a soft and hard chocolate chip cookie (which represent 2 landsites). Can they dig out coal without harming the landsite? Which site was easier to retrieve the coal? Visit Third Grade Thinkers for instructions!

Weathering
First, have them experiment with a toothpick. Next, give them an ice cube to see the effects of ice on a cookie. They'll use the cube to chop at the cookie. Then, hand out an eyedropper to represent rain. Kids squirt water on the cookie. Note: You could even use a spray bottle.
Erosion
Once their finished demolishing their cookie, pass out straws. Have kids blow (wind) their cookie crumbles (rock fragments) toward the center of the table. Then, sweep their crumbs into a pile.
Deposition
Add a couple drops of water to their crumbs (if needed) and squish them all together.
2. Cookie Mining Economics - Check out the Museum of Science and Industry's Cookie Mining Project. Kids excavate chocolate chips from a cookie; but, first they have to purchase the materials they need and stay within their price range!
energy resources (renewable vs. non-renewable) - You can also use this activity to explore . Kids get a soft and hard chocolate chip cookie (which represent 2 landsites). Can they dig out coal without harming the landsite? Which site was easier to retrieve the coal? Visit Third Grade Thinkers for instructions!

Labels:
budget,
deposition,
economics,
erosion,
food science,
geology/rocks and minerals,
money,
renewable energy,
science,
social studies,
weathering
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Coins, Bills, and Presidents
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Coin Experiments Featured:
1. Make a Quarter Cast and fool your friends with a magic trick! - Magic.About
2. Make green pennies and glimmering pennies, exploring electrochemistry! - Fun Science for Girls
3. How many drops of water can you put on a penny before it spills off? - The Last Blog After Eugenics
4. How many pennies can you put into a cup of water without a spill? - Learning Ideas K-8
5. Knock the bottom coin out of a coin tower, without it toppling over! - Zoom
6. Coin Drop: Make a basket with a flick of your fingers! - Steve Spangler
7. Swing a coin by a coat hanger! How does it stick?! - Visit ABC News in Science for this magical trick!
More:
8. Color Changing Quarter: Turn a quarter copper! - MegaMVP555
9. Vibrate a penny and make it dance on the opening of a water bottle - April Oaks
10. Fool your eyes with a refraction experiment (penny in a cup of water) - Steve Spangler
11. Make a quarter scream! - Science Bob
12. Trick your friends with Candace's Coin Trick (glue stick, 3 pennies)
13. Pennies Afloat - Riding in a boat
Money Maker - Put yourself on a bill! - Upload a photo at Festisite!
Coin Scavenger Hunt - Hunt for coins minted from various years and sequence them in order!
Coin Rubbings - Put coins under thin paper and rub over top with crayons.
Where's George? - Track a dollar bill!
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photo via spoonful |
Paper Log Cabin - Split students up into teams. Then, have them sketch out a design and construct it using paper tubes. Visit Spoonful (featured left).
Pretzel Stick Log Cabin - Chocolate Frosting Adhesive
Cherry Tree - Use a soda bottle for prints or crunch up tissue paper.
Life-Sized Presidents - Have kids split up into groups and pick a president. They measure out his height and create a paper president.
Writing - What would you do if you were president?
Labels:
money,
presidents day,
science,
surface tension,
water
Monday, December 31, 2012
Dime Collector
2 player game: Each player gets a ten frame. Players take turns rolling a die. They count out the number of pennies the die lands on and place them on their ten frame. When a player fills his ten frame, he trades his pennies in for a dime. Play the game until kids get bored. The player with the most dimes wins!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Number Bond Game
2 player game
materials: 4 straws, 6 paper plates (2 large, 4 small), tape
Younger kids - dice and number counters (or paperclips, beans, cheerios, etc.)
Roll the dice, using number counters, kids count out the number they rolled. Then, they place the number counters on the whole plate. They roll again, count out the number with their number counters, and place the counters on one of the "part" plates. Whoever figures out the missing part and places the correct number of counters on the plate first gets a point!
Older Kids:
Kids pull two number cards from the pile. They place the larger card on the whole plate and the smaller card on one of the part plates. The first one to figure out the missing addend gets a point!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Regrouping: 2-Digit Addition
Regrouping can be a very difficult concept for students. A great hands on way to teach adding double digits is with dimes and pennies. Kids figure out that they add digits in the ones place first. Then, they add the digits in the tens place.
First, they group their pennies together to create a ten (dime). They trade their ten pennies for a dime. Any pennies left over (that don't make a ten) represent the ones place. Next, they count the total number of dimes they have. The number of dimes represents the numeral in the tens place. Add all the coins up and you have your answer! This is a fantastic activity for visual learners. Below is an example:
First, they group their pennies together to create a ten (dime). They trade their ten pennies for a dime. Any pennies left over (that don't make a ten) represent the ones place. Next, they count the total number of dimes they have. The number of dimes represents the numeral in the tens place. Add all the coins up and you have your answer! This is a fantastic activity for visual learners. Below is an example:
Labels:
addition,
math,
money,
place value,
regrouping
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Penny Shooter
All you need is a toilet paper or paper towel tube, balloon, scissors, and tape! How to instructions from CamNCurtis:
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Build an Aquarium
Practice your money skills by creating an aquarium and purchasing accessories! First, kids design a unique salt water aquarium for pet fish (think of the TV show Tanked on Animal Planet). Then, you give them a certain amount of money. Kids watch their budget as they choose what they would like to add to their tank. They can mix and match gravel, plants, and fish if they'd like! Once they have purchased their items, they draw the aquarium accessories and fish in the tank they designed.
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