It's time to crack open that piggy bank and see what's inside. First, count up the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, identifying what fraction of them are dimes. Then calculate the total value of the coins, writing another fraction...

Use volume to count your change. Pupils watch as a cube is filled with stacks of pennies and make an estimate on how many pennies are in the cube. The teacher provides additional information to the class members about the size of the...

What starts as a basic question of division and remainders quickly turns abstract in this question of related ratios and radii. The class works to surround a central coin with coins of the same and different values, then develops a...

Drawing from a scenario of the history of the penny, learners write and solve a system of linear equations from a context.

Block play can teach children about gravity, physics, and spatial relationships. A hands-on lesson incorporates these concepts with an activity in which learners examine the relationship between levels in a pile. Scholars begin to...

Students connect literature (story Jelly Beans for Sale by Bruce McMillan) to math concepts. In these estimating and money lessons, students work with jelly beans, unifix cubes, pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, to estimate and make...

Working in pairs, scholars use picture cards to practice segmenting words into phonemes and blending phonemes into words. When a peer answers correctly they place a penny in a treasure chest. Incorrect responses make the card go back in...

A basic set-up leads to a surprisingly complex analysis in this variation on the question of surrounding a central circle with a ring of touching circles. Useful for putting trigonometric functions in a physical context, as well as...

Combine math, creative writing, and leprechauns in a fun St. Patrick's Day activity! Using a bag of gold coins and marshmallows, kids write a math story about a leprechaun that includes a multi-step equation to solve.

Batteries are expensive to purchase in a store, but you can make one your self for exactly 24 cents. In this experiment, you will make your own voltaic pile using pennies and nickels and determine how many coins in a pile will make the...

Two very basic coin identification activities and a teacher lesson plan are available at this website. These activities may require an explanation before primary age students can use them.