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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From Trade to Currency Comic – Template
A comic strip activity that explores how people progressed from trade to currency.
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Price Tags
Price tags for classroom display.
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Piggy Banks V2 (Australian Currency)
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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Coin Card Memory Game
Students concrete their understanding of Australian Coins and their values with this fun Coin Card Memory Game.
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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 Match-Up Game (New Zealand Currency)
A set of six cards to be matched up for each note and coin in New Zealand currency.
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Australian Currency Poster - Coins
A poster showing different Australian coins and their values.
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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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QR Code Price Tags
A set 40 of QR Code price tags and a blank template to create your own.
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What's it Worth? New Zealand Currency Game
Use this What's it Worth? game when learning about the value of coins.
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Individual Money Posters (New Zealand Currency)
Individual educational posters depicting New Zealand currency.
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Money Dominoes (New Zealand Currency)
Forty cards for dominoes using New Zealand currency.
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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 Bingo (New Zealand Currency)
32 different bingo cards using New Zealand coins and notes.
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New Zealand Coin Sheets
A sheet of New Zealand coins to use with games and activities.
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Individual Coin Posters with Features (New Zealand Currency)
Individual educational posters depicting New Zealand coins.
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Picture Cards with Price Tags and Coins (New Zealand Currency)
A variety of different objects with price tags and coin cards.
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Piggy Banks - New Zealand 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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British Currency Poster - Coins
A poster showing different British coins and their values.
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Money and Financial Mathematics Teaching Resource Pack
A collection of resources exploring money and financial mathematics.
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Interactive Money Game Lab
An interactive currency activity using Australian banknotes and coins.
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Calculating Discounts
A 60 minute lesson in which students will calculate percentage discounts of 10%, 25% and 50%.
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Maths Investigation - Prepare to Party (1)
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge of decimals and percentages to a real-world context.
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Operations with Decimals and Percentages Unit Plan - Year 5 and Year 6
This Mathematics unit covers a range of concepts relating to decimals and percentages; specifically calculations.
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Calculating Sale Price
A 60 minute lesson in which students will calculate sale price using percentage discounts of 10%, 25% and 50%.
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Operations with Decimals and Percentages Assessment - Year 5 and Year 6
An assessment task in which students will demonstrate an understanding of decimals and percentages.
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Maths Investigation - Prepare to Party (2)
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge of decimals and percentages to a real-world context.
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Maths Investigation - Prepare to Party (3)
A 60 minute lesson in which students will apply knowledge of decimals and percentages to a real-world context.
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20+ Resources for Teaching Money and Financial Mathematics
These amazing downloadable resources will give your students the real-world skills they need to know all about money and financial mathematics!
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10 Exciting QR Code Activities for Students
Here are 10 awesome QR code activities for Kids to use in the classroom!