You can use money to practice counting by 1’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s.

Let your kid pay for his own treats and get the change.

Double your money!
When you want to give a gift of money, here’s an offer a kid can’t refuse:

“I’ll put a penny in a jar. The next day, I’ll double it and put 2 pennies into the jar. The next day, I’ll double that and put in 4 pennies, and so on, every day for a week. At the end of the week, you can have all the money in the jar, or I’ll give you a dollar. Your choice.”

You can do this for any amount of time, but be careful or you will end up paying much more than you expected. You will start on day 1 and put 1 penny in a jar. The next day, you will put in double that much—2 pennies. The next day you will put in double again, 4 pennies, and the next day you will double the amount to 8 pennies, and so on, doubling every day. Say how many days you will double the money for, and say that at the end, the child can keep all the money in the jar, or you will trade the money in the jar for a certain amount. The child can choose.

How long you go depends on how much you want to give. If you want to give about $10.00, offer to double for 10 days, and say you will buy the jar back for $8.00.

If you want to give about $40, offer to double for 12 days, and say you will buy the jar back for $30.00.

If you want to give about $80, offer to double for 13 days, and say you will buy the jar back for $75.00.

If you want to give about $160, offer to double for 14 days, and say you will buy the jar back for $150.00.