Money & Life Skills ยท Lesson 1
What Is Money? Dollar Bills
Money is a tool people use to buy, sell, and trade. This first lesson introduces paper bills and the values children see most often: $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
For ages 5-9. Keep it concrete: real or play bills, simple trades, and making the same amount more than one way.
Aim
To help the child understand that money is something people agree to use for buying, selling, and trading. In the United States, the main unit of money is the dollar. Paper money is called bills, and each bill has a value.
This lesson stays with what money is and how common dollar bills compare. The history of money and what we do with money belong in the next lessons.
Materials
- Play money, real bills, or paper rectangles labeled $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100
- A few small household objects for pretend buying
- Paper and pencil for drawing bills
- A small tray or table space for sorting
Opening
Place the bills on the table from smallest value to largest value. Let the child look first. Ask: What do you notice? Which bill do you think is worth the most? Which is worth the least?
Say: Money is a tool. People use money to buy things they need, like food, clothes, gas, and a place to live. People also use money to buy things they want, like books, toys, ice cream, or movie tickets.
The Big Idea
In the United States, our money is called the dollar. You may see money as coins or paper bills. A bill is paper money. Each bill has a number on it that tells you how much it is worth.
A $1 bill and a $100 bill are both pieces of paper, but they are not worth the same amount. The $100 bill can buy much more because its value is higher.
Meet The Bills
$1 bill: worth 1 dollar. You might use it for something small, or as part of a bigger amount.
$5 bill: worth five $1 bills. $1 + $1 + $1 + $1 + $1 = $5.
$10 bill: worth ten $1 bills, or two $5 bills. $5 + $5 = $10.
$20 bill: worth twenty $1 bills, or two $10 bills. $10 + $10 = $20.
$50 bill: worth fifty $1 bills, or five $10 bills. $10 + $10 + $10 + $10 + $10 = $50.
$100 bill: worth one hundred $1 bills, or five $20 bills. $20 + $20 + $20 + $20 + $20 = $100.
Hands-On Work
Make the amount
Call out an amount and let the child build it with bills. Then ask: Can you make the same amount a different way?
- Make $5 using ones.
- Make $10 using fives.
- Make $20 using tens.
- Make $50 using tens.
- Make $100 using twenties.
Example: $10 can be one $10 bill, two $5 bills, or ten $1 bills.
Pretend Store
Set three small objects on the table and give each one a simple price: $1, $5, and $10. Let the child choose an object, pay for it, and say the bill value out loud.
Keep the prices exact for this first lesson. Change can come later. The goal today is recognition, value, and confidence with the bills.
Vocabulary
Money: something people use to buy, sell, and trade.
Dollar: the main kind of money used in the United States.
Bill: paper money.
Value: how much something is worth.
Buy: to trade money for something.
Change: money given back after paying more than the price.
Discussion Questions
- What is money used for?
- What is paper money called?
- Which is worth more: a $1 bill or a $10 bill?
- How many $5 bills equal $10?
- How many $20 bills equal $100?
Closing
Money helps people trade. Instead of trading one object for another object, people can use money. Money makes buying and selling easier.
Today we learned that paper money is called bills, and each bill has a different value. Next comes the bigger question: Where did money come from?