Bean Money! First and Second Grade Math Activity

Bean Money Number Sense Math Activity

Here’s a fun math activity that you can set up in a flash! This is like counting money, but with a creative twist… use dried beans as “coins”, and make the denominations things that are different from the normal coin values. Instead of counting by 5’s and 10’s, you can count by 7’s or 12’s!

This really makes kids think. Counting money is different if you have access to a 3 cent coin or an 8 cent coin. What would you do if there was no coin worth one cent? Would it change how you pay?

Here in the US we have basically lost the penny since it is no longer being produced, so that’s where we are, actually. We have lost the ability to count out certain amounts without a one cent coin!

Supplies Needed for Bean Money Math Activity:

• Four different types of dried beans
• Small toys or other objects
• Post it notes
• Paper
• Pencil or markers
• Small cups to hold the beans

We used lima beans, red kidney beans, pinto beans, and black beans, but you can choose which beans you want to use! I’d avoid lentils and other tiny beans because they’re just hard to handle.

First, determine the denominations of your bean coins! Your students will enjoy helping with this step.

I put our beans in plastic cups and labeled them with post it notes.

Then it’s time to figure out how to form different amounts with combinations of beans!

I drew a collection of circles on paper, and wrote an amount inside each circle.

You can also set up a little pretend store so that kids can practice paying with their bean money. Collect items from around your home or classroom and make price tags with post it notes. I cut ours into smaller pieces.

This is a good time to explore whether or not there are multiple ways to make the same amount of money. We found three ways to make 39 cents with our bean coins!

Switch up your coin values and try this activity again!

It’s fun to experiment with different coin denominations this time. We decided to eliminate a 1 cent bean and see what would happen.

Without a 1 cent bean, we could not make 43 cents. There’s no way to do it!

Wrap – Up Discussion:

Ask kids afterwards if they have a better understanding of why we have the coins we have? With a dollar being equal to 100 cents, a nickel, dime, and quarter allow us to make any amount we need. (Well, actually we need the PENNY too, but here we are!)

If you used all odd numbered coins, would you be able to make any even amounts? (Yes, in fact you would ONLY be able to make even amounts! Try it!)

If you used all even numbered coins, would you be able to get an odd amount? (No, you could only get evens!)

In order to get an odd amount, you HAVE to add an odd number and an even number.

Need more elementary math activities?

Here’s a collection of fun Addition Card Games!

And here’s a collection of Elementary Math Games with Dice. Tons of fun options for grades 1 – 5!