Money for counting

What do young children understand? They understand what money is for. Money can buy them sweets and toys, it’s also used for other things as well, but they are not as important. Most young children can count out money to pay for their purchases. Some, however, do not work out the change they are due, they will pay with a £1 coin, or with a 50p piece, and accept that the change they are given is right. When I was young the shop assistants used to count out the change by counting up. If the purchase cost 33p and you paid with a £1 coin, then the shop assistant would count money into my hand starting at the value of the purchase (33p) and then add pennies “34p, 35p” then add a 5p piece “40p” then a 10p piece “50p” and finally a 50p piece “£1”. This way I knew that the change I was getting was right and incidentally I learnt how to work out the amount of change I was due from observation. But today, the electronic tills tell the shop assistant what change is due, they no longer have to count it up. A learning opportunity is lost, gone forever. At Puppet Maths we want to teach children these old techniques of handling numbers, because they’re useful and proven, tested throughout time. We provide relevance to our maths by associating it with money. Young children are concrete thinkers and they find it easier to imagine coins rather than handle abstract numbers, so we use money as a vehicle to allow children to achieve success in their arithmetic.