Time for a Change

Before we go on vacation, we always like to empty out the change jar.  We make a family activity out of sorting, counting, and rolling the change.  Typically, we look at the full jar and try to guess how much change we think we'll end up with.  It's a great learning activity for the whole family.

Baby Girl learned the names of the different coins and helped sort them.  She made a few mistakes but they were easily fixed.  Toward the end, she was much more entertained by dumping out the jar, filling it back up, and dumping it again.

Big Sis picked up some math skills.  "If a penny wrapper holds fifty cents, how many pennies will we put in?"  And "We have 12 rolls of pennies.  How much money is that?"  She learned to count by fifty.

Son #2 learned about finances and saving.  Even though a penny is only worth one cent, saving them up for a while adds up quickly.  It's amazing to see a jarful of change quickly turn into a hundred dollars.  Saving your pennies really does amount to something.

Son #1 learned that a little extra hard work is worth it in the end.  It would have been much easier to take the jar of change to the grocery store, dump it in the machine, and redeem it for cash.  (Where's the fun in that?)  While that might be quicker, the cost of using the machine would take away from our spending money.

We like to pick one thing to spend our change on during the vacation.  It might be a theme park with rides or just souvenirs to take home.  The boys and I definitely agreed that part of the money would be used for a deep dish pizza in Chicago and maybe some snacks on the train.

I love teachable family moments!

(The verdict- we rolled $117 in change today!  )