Identifying Coins
Jingle, jingle! What is that sound in your pocket? Coins! In the United States there are four coins you see all the time: the penny, the nickel, the dime, and the quarter. Each one is worth a different amount, and each one looks a little different. The surprising part? The dime is the SMALLEST coin, but it is worth more than the big nickel. Size does not tell you the price!
What You'll Learn
1. The name and value of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. 2. How to tell the coins apart by their color and size. 3. How to count a small pile of coins to find how much money you have.
Meet the Four Coins
The PENNY is worth 1 cent. It is the only brown coin. Abraham Lincoln is on the front. The NICKEL is worth 5 cents. It is a fat, thick, silver coin. Thomas Jefferson is on it. The DIME is worth 10 cents. It is the tiniest coin, thin and silver, with smooth bumpy edges. The QUARTER is worth 25 cents. It is the biggest of the four and silver.
Color and Size Clues
Here is a quick way to sort coins. First, look for BROWN. Only the penny is brown, so grab those first. Now you have silver coins left. The tiny one is the dime. The fat one is the nickel. The big one is the quarter. Color first, then size!
Counting Coins
Say you have 1 dime and 2 pennies. Start with the biggest value: the dime is 10. Then count the pennies: 10... 11... 12. You have 12 cents! Always start counting from the coin worth the most. That makes it easier.
The dime is smaller than the nickel, but the dime is worth 10 cents and the nickel is only worth 5. Never guess a coin's value by how big it is. Learn each coin's real number!
Match each coin to how much it is worth. Drag left to right.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
Which coin is the only BROWN one?
You have 1 dime and 1 penny. How much money is that?
Coin Sorting Hunt
1. Ask a grown-up for a handful of real coins (or paper cutouts). 2. Make four spots on the table: penny, nickel, dime, quarter. 3. Sort every coin into the right spot. Remember: brown = penny, tiny = dime, fat = nickel, biggest = quarter. 4. Now pick 3 coins and count how much money you have, starting with the most valuable one. 5. Tell a grown-up your total!
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