For Teachers

Sorting Money Activities

Check out these fun activities for students to learn how to sort money.

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Sorting is a vital skill for your students to learn. Whether you are homeschooling or teaching in a traditional setting, this ability can transfer to many other areas and help your kids succeed. When money is involved, sorting can be an excellent foundation for your student’s financial education. Let’s check out some of the best sorting money activities!

Mats and Centers

  • Coin Sorting Freebie: This sheet shows various coin values. Students need to sort their coins into the correct columns. Teachers can use this activity in centers or for individual review. It is simple to set up – just pass out the sheet and a handful of coins to each student. Best for PreK-1st grade.
  • Money Matching Sort: This activity is excellent for money-matching practice. You can use it to practice skip-counting by 5s, 10s, and 25s. If you use it for centers or independently, kids can reuse the skip-count matching boards over and over or can cut and paste the values and coins into the appropriate slots for assessment. Ideal for pre-K-5th grade.
  • Coin Sorting and Money Counting Mat: This activity reviews the values of coins, including pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Kids sort their cash into the proper zone on the mat. Each quadrant has a clever poem to help students remember coin values, and there is also a money counting mat to practice skip-counting by 5s. You can use this as a center, a poster to display, or a partner activity. Good for K-3rd grade.
  • Coin Sort: In this coin sorting activity, students must color, cut, and glue the pieces in the right spots. It also comes with an anchor chart so kids can create their sort. You can use this at centers or independently – simply have kids color and paste their coins on folded construction paper on the chart. Great for K-3rd grade.
  • President’s Day Coin Sorting Mat: Teachers can use this activity around President’s Day, but it would work any other time throughout the year. It shows the presidential faces, and students sort coins into four piles: pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Print and laminate the mat, put it in your math center, and let the kids go. It is fantastic for fine motor skills, brief history lessons, and money awareness. Made for pre-K-Kindergarten.
  • Coin Identification Sorting Pads: In this activity, teachers print out colorful mats for students to use. Kids need to sort coins into the appropriate place. They offer different challenge levels, with the basic level requiring students to find the pre-labeled amounts, and the more advanced kids counting totals with various coin combinations. Great for K-3rd grade.
  • Earned Income Sort: This activity involves sorting income-producing scenarios. Kids need to cut and paste pictures showing either income-production or not-income-earning actions. Teachers can set these up at centers, and kids can work on them independently. It is good for exposing students to money units and income-earning. For K-1st grade.
  • Coin Jar Sort: This printable activity lets kids work with large jars on sheets, sorting coins into them. They need to place quarters in the correct jar, dimes in another, and so on. Setup is simple, and these work well in centers. Just print and give students paper or real coins to sort. Great for PreK-1st grade.

Worksheets and Paper Activities

  • Money Sort: In this activity, students are given sheets with images of coins, bills, and words representing money value. Children learn which coins are which, match pictures with money amounts, and connect words with coins. There are three sorts, which students could do alone or in groups: Penny, Nickel, Dime, and Quarter; Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Half Dollar; and Dollar, Five Dollar, Ten Dollar, and Twenty Dollar. Excellent for K-2nd grade.
  • Primary Money Unit – Coin Sorting: This activity involves identifying coins of different denominations and placing them in the right box. Students must look at coins closely – their shape, color, and markings – to determine where they should go. It is great for introducing money to young learners, a snap to set up, and can be used in multiple grade levels. It will work in PreK-3rd grade classrooms.
  • Lincoln vs. Washington: This activity combines coin sorting with identifying famous American presidents. Kids need to pick a coin, decide if Abraham Lincoln or George Washington is on it, and place it in the correct column. Teachers can hand out a cup full of pennies and quarters and the activity sheet and let students explore and sort. Great for pre-K-1st grade.
  • U.S. Coin Mini Poster and Sorting Activity: In this activity, students decide where to place specific coins. They can order them from the lowest to highest value, and the set includes coins and bills. The poster shows images of the fronts and backs of currency, giving kids a model to use when they sort. Teachers hand out the mats, where they separate pennies through quarters using different criteria. Good for K-2nd grade.
  • File Folder Activity – Coin Sorting: This activity has children sorting coins into pictures of jars on sheets. It is excellent practice in sorting and classification. Teachers need to laminate the sheets before using them, and you can use the included ClipArt coins or real ones. You can use them as either file folders or sorting mats. It targets PreK-1st grade students.

Digital Activities

  • Coin Sorting for Google Slides and Seesaw: This interactive activity will appeal to your digitally-inclined students. It is in a Google Slides format, so kids can drag and drop instead of cut and glue onto paper. Teachers download the activity, and kids can play it at a center or independently. They must move pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to the correct spot, identifying the heads and tails of the coins. Ideal for K-1st grade. 
  • Coin Sort Digital Activity: In this online activity, students sort coins with the click of a mouse. They drag and drop various denominations into corresponding columns, which teachers can use as a lesson or an assessment. Educators who use remote learning setups will enjoy this, as will online tutors. You need to download and share the activity with students for them to access it. Best for K=1stgrade.
  • Sorting Coins Interactive: Students use Google Slides and drag coins to appropriate totals in this activity. They need to sort coins to reach specific totals. Teachers can add this resource to Google Classroom and other digital platforms, and students can take it from there. Good for K-2nd grade.
  • Spend, Save, or Donate: In this sorting activity, kids must decide which scenarios they’ll put into their jars. They determine if the action is a spend, save, or donate event and drag it into the correct jar. Teachers can use this activity through Google Slides or Seesaw. Great for 1st-2nd grade.
  • Digital Coin Value Activities: These activities are in Google Classroom, and students can access them smoothly and quickly. They match and label coin values, identify individual coins, and sort them into various categories. Add it to your online toolkit, and kids are ready to begin. Excellent for K-2ndgrade.

Head to our center for how to teach money math to students for more curriculum resources!

About the Author

Peter Brown

Peter Brown is a National Board Certified teacher with over two decades of experience in the classroom. He loves working with students of all ages in many subjects, but particularly in practical areas like money education, to help kids achieve their goals. When he is not teaching or writing about financial literacy, you can find him surfing, hiking, skiing, or traveling to new places.

Last updated on: October 26, 2022