Have you ever counted coins at a garage sale or in your piggy bank? It’s fun to learn how different coins add up to make a dollar. Let’s explore how coins work together!
Did you know it takes five pennies to make a nickel? That’s right! Here are some more fun facts:
Carrying lots of pennies can be heavy, so it’s nice to use coins like nickels, dimes, and quarters that are worth more.
Nickels are great because:
Dimes are small but mighty! They can be a bit tricky because:
Quarters are fun because they have different designs. Here’s how they add up:
Half dollars are rare but useful. You only need two to make a dollar!
When you empty your piggy bank, try sorting your coins into piles. Start with the biggest coins and use skip counting to make dollar piles. If you don’t have enough big coins, use smaller ones to finish up.
Imagine you have these coins: two Susan B. Anthony dollars, one Sacagawea dollar, three half dollars, nine quarters, four dimes, ten nickels, and a bunch of pennies. Let’s count them:
Oh, and don’t forget that penny you found on the sidewalk! Now you have eight whole dollars!
Let’s practice counting some more. Remember to start with the largest coin:
Let’s play “Count the Coins.” Try to count faster than us:
Counting coins is fun and helps you learn about money. Keep practicing, and you’ll get even better!
Coin Hunt Adventure: Go on a coin hunt around your house! Ask an adult to help you find different coins like pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Once you have a collection, try sorting them into groups. How many pennies do you need to make a dollar? How about nickels or dimes? Share your findings with a friend or family member!
Coin Art Project: Use your coins to create a fun piece of art. Arrange them on a piece of paper to make shapes or patterns. You can even try to make a picture of something you like, like a tree or a house. Once you’re done, count how much money your artwork is worth. Can you make a picture worth exactly one dollar?
Shopping Game: Pretend you are at a store with a friend or family member. Use real or play coins to “buy” items around the house. Decide on prices for each item, like 25 cents for a toy or 50 cents for a book. Practice counting out the correct amount of coins to “purchase” each item. How many different ways can you make the same amount using different coins?
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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When counting change at a garage sale or anywhere, it’s good to know about coin combinations. It takes five pennies to equal a nickel, ten pennies to equal a dime, twenty-five pennies to equal a quarter, fifty pennies to equal a half dollar, and one hundred pennies to equal a dollar. That’s a lot of pennies!
I like having coins that are worth more, like the nickel, because you don’t have to carry as many.
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It takes two nickels to equal a dime, five nickels to equal a quarter, ten nickels to equal a half dollar, and twenty nickels to equal a dollar.
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Dimes are pretty cool because they’re worth more and they’re smaller; however, they can be a bit tricky. What do you mean dimes are tricky? Well, we can’t use only dimes to equal a quarter; we need two dimes and a nickel to equal a quarter, or two dimes and five pennies. That’s right, and it takes five dimes to equal a half dollar and ten dimes to equal a dollar.
Quarters are my favorite coins because there are so many different designs. It takes two quarters to equal a half dollar and four quarters to equal a dollar.
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Half dollars are hard to find, but you only need two of them to equal a dollar. Since you don’t see them very often, you might have to put two quarters with the half dollar to equal a dollar. It’s fun making coin combinations; the more you practice, the better you get.
Whenever I empty my piggy bank, the first thing I do is separate the coins so that I have all the pennies in one pile, all the nickels in another, the dimes in another, then the quarters, then the half dollars, and finally the dollar coins and bills. That makes it easier to count how much money you have. Start with the large coins and use skip counting to put all of the coins into dollar piles. Sometimes I don’t have the right number of coins to do the skip counting all the way up to a dollar, so I just use some of the smaller coins to finish up the dollar.
Hey, why don’t we count the money in your piggy bank? Maybe we can get our speaker fixed.
Okay, first we’ll separate the coins. Here are two Susan B. Anthony dollars, one Sacagawea dollar, three half dollars, nine quarters, four dimes, ten nickels, and a whole pile of pennies. Let’s put the coins in groups that are equal to a dollar so we can count how many dollars we have.
Here’s one, two, three dollars from the dollar coins. Let’s count two of the half dollars: fifty cents, that’s a dollar. That brings us to four dollars. We have another half dollar left; if we put two of the quarters with it, that makes another dollar—five dollars total. That leaves us with seven quarters. Let’s add them slowly: 25, 50, 75, a dollar—that’s six dollars so far.
Now let’s count the other three quarters: 25, 50, 75, and if we add two of the dimes and a nickel, that will make another dollar. Now we have seven dollars counted. That leaves us with two dimes: 10, 20 cents. We can skip count using the nickels from there: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 cents.
Let’s see if we can get to a dollar with the pennies. One more would make 66. Now let’s skip count two pennies at a time: 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98. Uh oh, only one more—99. That makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven dollars and 99 cents.
Wait, I just remembered I found a penny on the sidewalk this morning. Now we have eight whole dollars! That may not be enough to get the speaker fixed. Hmm, maybe I should call our friend at the music store to see if he can help us out. Maybe he can loan us a speaker to use.
You don’t have to call me; I’m right here! I thought I’d drop by to see how things are going.
Dude, do you think you can fix our speaker?
Let me take a look. Hmm, no problem; it’s just a loose wire. I won’t charge you anything.
Whoa, you’re pretty amazing! The speaker works, and I get to keep my piggy bank full!
Yeah, thanks! You’re a great friend, and now we can rock tonight after all!
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Now that we’ve counted the money in your piggy bank, let’s practice some more. Remember to start counting with the largest coin and use skip counting wherever you can:
5, 10, 15, 16, 17 cents.
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10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 36 cents.
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25, 30, 31, 32, 32 cents.
25, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 81, 81 cents.
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10, 20, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 42 cents.
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25, 35, 45, 50, 55, 60, 61—that gives us 61 cents.
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25, 50, 75, 86, 87, 88 cents.
25, 50, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59—59 cents.
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Wow, look at all these coins!
25, 50, 75, 90, 95, 96, 98, 100, 102—102 cents or a dollar and two cents.
One dollar, fifty, one hundred makes two dollars.
Fifty, seventy, 75, 85, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100—that’s another dollar for three dollars total.
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Great! Now let’s play a game called “Count the Coins.” See if you can count the coins faster than we do. We’ll give you a little help on the first few, then you’re on your own. Ready?
13 cents.
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28 cents.
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46 cents.
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92 cents.
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One hundred cents or one dollar.
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26 cents.
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51 cents.
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95 cents.
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79 cents.
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99 cents.
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This version removes any informal language and maintains a clear, educational tone.
