No More Money Egg Drama

In the past, I dreaded teaching counting money because it meant that I had to use those plastic "money eggs" with my math groups. You know what I'm talking about, right? Those plastic Easter eggs that we "saved" from last season and stuffed with a group of coins and stored in an egg carton.

What happened when students used them? Coins fell out of the eggs and got lost so my teacher answer key never matched up with the amount the students counted. The students switched the tops and bottoms of the eggs (yes, even though they were color coded) so that my "numbered" eggs ended up all mixed up. The not-so durable plastic eggs and egg cartons cracked/broke/fell apart and their contents fell all over the floor. What a disaster!

What is a teacher to do? I say get rid of them. I decided to work SMARTER not HARDER. So get out your Popsicle sticks (Jumbo sized preferably) and hot glue gun. Turn your money eggs into money sticks by hot gluing your coins to a Popsicle stick and solve all of your pesky money egg problems.

To easily differentiate and meet the needs of all of your students, vary the placement of the coins on the stick. Green money sticks feature amounts less than $1.00 and coins are arranged largest to smallest amount. Red money sticks feature amounts greater than $1.00 and are arranged randomly for a more real-life type of counting situation.

Another benefit of using money sticks? They are very versatile. Students used the money sticks to compare different amounts of money using the greater than, less than, and equal to symbols. 

We also played the game "kaboom" with money sticks. Without peeking, students drew money sticks out of a container. If the student was able to successfully count the money amount on the stick, they got to keep it. If they were wrong, they put it back into the container. When they drew the "kaboom" stick, they had to put all of their winning sticks back into the container and start over.

I'd love to hear how you are ditching those eggs for money sticks in your classroom. Tweet me @addsparkle88, IG at addsomesparkle88, or connect with me on Facebook at Add Some Sparkle. See you next time friends!