Money Wars!

Purpose: A fun and energetic game to practice counting coin amounts.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Materials Needed: Sets of index cards with the words More, Less, and Same written on them (one word per card); a list of coin amounts.

Procedure:

1. Pass out the More, Less, and Same cards to the class. For larger groups, pair the learners up or put them into small groups and give one card set to each partner or group.
2. Call out an amount of coins, then call out a second amount and have the learners hold up the card that indicates if the second amount is more, less, or the same as the first. For example, “The first amount is 12 dimes. The second amount is three quarters and five nickels. Is the second amount more, less, or the same as the first amount?”
3. After the learners hold up their cards sharing their answers, go over the coin amounts as a class, counting them out loud together so that the learners can check their answers. If you have an overhead projector or document camera, you can show coins on them to the whole class. If working with a small group or with limited technology, use real or toy coins and have learner volunteers count them out.
4. After checking the answers, move on to another pair of coin amounts.

Modification 1: After playing a few rounds of the game, have the learners work in partners or small groups to come up with their own coin amounts. Have learners take turns standing up and calling out their amounts, then sharing the answers after their classmates respond.