Money Teaching Resources
Bring Australian money and financial literacy concepts into your primary school classroom this year with worksheets, games and more resources designed to ensure your students can recognise and count coins and notes, understand the value of different currency denominations and so much more!
This money teacher resources collection is aligned with standards in the Australian maths curriculum, and you'll find everything you need to teach build primary students' understanding of financial transactions and decision-making.
Teaching about money for the very first time? Take a look at this guide from the expert teachers of Teach Starter to help you help your students with this real-world maths concept!
What Is Money? A Kid-Friendly Definition
There's an old saying that money makes the world go round, but what is money really? How do you explain it to your students? Here's a definition of money that we use with our own students!
Money is something that we use to exchange for goods or services.
For example, if you want to buy a new video game, you will need money to pay for it!
What Is a Dollar? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Dollar is another vocabulary word key to teaching students about money.
A dollar is the basic unit of money that Australians use every day.
Some other countries around the world, including the United States and Canada, also base their money system around the dollar.
To represent a dollar, we use a special symbol called the dollar sign, which looks like this: $.
What Is a Cent? A Kid-Friendly Definition
A cent is another unit of money that is used in Australia. It is equal to one hundredth of a dollar.
To represent a cent, we use a special symbol called the cent sign, which looks like this: ¢.
Australian Notes and Coins — Currency Explained
Currency is a word that we use to describe the form of money that we use to pay for things.
Here in Australia, our currency is made by the Royal Australian Mint and the Reserve Bank of Australia, which are special parts of the Australian government.
Australian currency can be made out of special paper that we call a banknote or note. Currency can also be made out of pieces of metal that we call coins.
These notes and coins each have numbers assigned to them that let us know their value. For example, an Australian dollar is equal to 100 cents.
So, what are the Australian coins and notes that your students should know about? Let's take a look!
Australian Coins
The Royal Australian Mint produces six different Australian coins, all of which we can use to purchase goods or pay for services. These include:
- 5 cent coin
- 10 cent coin
- 20 cent coin
- 50 cent coin
- 1 dollar coin
- 2 dollar coin
Australian Notes
There are currently 5 different Australian notes or banknotes that you may find in your piggybank or at the store.
These notes represent the following denominations:
- $5
- $10
- $20
- $50
- $100
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Data Maths Investigation – Line Up the Coins
A mathematics investigation about data, embedded in a real-world context.
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Money Task Cards - Multi-Step Word Problems
Practise solving money word problems with a printable set of multi-step word problem task cards.
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Pandora's Party Palace Maths Activity – Lower Years
16 mathematics problem solving task cards involving money in a real-world context.
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Financial Planning Maths Investigation - My Day at Leisure Land!
A mathematics investigation involving financial planning, embedded in a real-world context.
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Pandora's Party Palace Maths Activity – Upper Years
Sixteen mathematics problem-solving task cards involving money in a real-world context.
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Australian Dollar Note Sheets
A sheet of Australian dollar notes to use with games and activities.
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Shopping Catalogue with Worksheet
A shopping catalogue and worksheet to use when working on financial mathematics.
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Money and Financial Mathematics Worksheets - Year 4
2 money and financial mathematics worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Money and Financial Mathematics Worksheets - Year 2
6 money and financial mathematics worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Money and Financial Mathematics Worksheets - Year 6
2 money and financial mathematics worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Financial Mathematics Maths Investigation – Let's Play Mini Golf!
A mathematics investigation about financial mathematics and measurement, embedded in a real-world context.
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Decimals and Percentages Maths Investigation – Plan a Party!
Get your students connecting their maths knowledge to the real world with this decimals and percentages party planning project.
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Decimals and Percentages Assessment
Assess students' knowledge of various decimals and percentages concepts with this four-page worksheet.
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Piggy Bank Pigs - Australian Coins
Piggy Bank Pigs are a fun, hands on way for students to learn each of the coins and how their values add up to a certain amount.
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Money and Finances Maths Investigation – Pop–Up Shop on Wheels
A project where students use their mathematic skills to plan a fundraiser for a charity of choice.
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The People on Australian Banknotes — Classroom Posters
A set of posters outlining the various facts about the people represented on Australian banknotes.
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Money Bingo – Australian Currency
32 different bingo cards using notes and coins.
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Individual Australian Currency Posters
Individual educational posters depicting Australia currency.
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Counting Coins Worksheet
A counting worksheet using Australian coins.
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Money and Financial Mathematics Worksheets - Year 3
2 money and financial mathematics worksheets linked to the Australian Curriculum.
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Australian Money Word Wall Vocabulary
Seventy-five money vocabulary cards.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Burger Bar Backlash – Project
A project in which students get to reinvent a theme park burger bar to make it more inclusive of different dietary requirements.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Token Night – Project
A project in which students use stimulus posters to plan the best evening at Five Wonders Theme Park within a given budget and time frame.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Takeout Takeover – Project
A project for students to create a menu and food truck model for Five Wonders Theme Park based on the Frida's Fiesta menu.
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Memory Matcher PowerPoint – Australian Coins and Notes
An interactive memory match up game to consolidate students' recognition of Australian coins and notes.
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Five Wonders Theme Park: Induction Booklet – Project
A project where students study the Five Wonders Theme Park stimulus poster to understand and use real world learning skills.
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Coin Toss Active Game
An active, whole group game to play when learning coin recognition and counting money.
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Five Wonders Theme Park – Stimulus Posters
A number of stimulus posters all themed around Five Wonders Theme Park.
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Cover Up! - Addition Facts Game
A game for practising addition fact strategies.
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Money and Financial Mathematics - Upper Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the Upper Years classroom when learning about money and financial mathematics
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Money and Financial Mathematics – Lower Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44-slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the lower years classroom when learning about money and financial mathematics.
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Money and Financial Mathematics - Middle Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the classroom when learning about money and financial mathematics