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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Odd or Even Sorting Game (Coins)
Help your students reinforce their knowledge of odd and even numbers with this fun coin sorting activity.
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Pocket Money Board Game
A fun game to use when learning about money.
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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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Representing Money Amounts – Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practise representing money amounts in multiple ways.
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Ordering Australian Coins – Worksheet
A worksheet for students to practise ordering Australian coins.
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Recognising Australian Coins – Worksheet
Explore Australian coins with this simple worksheet.
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From Trade to Currency Comic – Template
A comic strip activity that explores how people progressed from trade to currency.
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Multiply Those Toys!
An activity for students to use to consolidate their understanding of repeated addition as a way of representing multiplication.
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Loose Change (Coins and Notes) – Board Game
A board game to encourage students to learn about Australian coins and notes.
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Loose Change (Coins) – Board Game
A board game to encourage students to learn about Australian coins.
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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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Money Dominoes (Lower Years) – Game
Twenty-four domino cards using Australian currency.
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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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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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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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I Have, Who Has? Game - Money (Australian Currency)
A whole-class game to help students when learning to count coins and notes.
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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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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 Card Games (Australian Currency) – Coins
A pack of money game instructions to teach your students about Australian Currency.
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Cover Up! - Addition Facts Game
A game for practising addition fact strategies.
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Piggy Bank Activity Mat
An activity mat to practise counting and representing money.
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Money Playing Cards (Australian Currency) – Coins
A set of cards featuring Australian coin currency for learning about money and financial mathematics.
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Australian Dollar Note Sheets
A sheet of Australian dollar notes to use with games and activities.
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New Zealand Money Display Banner
A classroom display banner to use on your 'New Zealand Money' display board.
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Australian Money Display Banner
A classroom display banner to use on your 'Australian Money' display board.
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Money Matters Worksheet
A worksheet requiring different combinations of money to make the provided amount.
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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