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Learning area: Mathematics
Year level: Year 1
Country: Japan, Singapore
General capability: Intercultural understanding

This learning sequence focuses on developing student familiarity with currency from Australia and a range of countries from the Asia region. It is aligned to the Australian Curriculum and supports Mathematics: Number and Algebra: Number and Algebra.

Students are introduced to Australian coins and notes and the currencies of other countries. They see that countries from the Asia region have different coins and names for the money units. The activities and games provide opportunities for students to become familiar with Australian notes and coins and see that there are different ways to 'make' amounts of equal value.



Act1_pageAustralian coin flashcards

Acknowledgements

Image: AEF

Related resources

Australian Curriculum alignment

Learning area: Mathematics

Year level: Year 1

Country: Japan, Singapore

General capability: Intercultural understanding

Content description: Recognise, describe and order Australian coins according to their value (ACMNA017)

Elaboration: Showing that coins are different in other countries by comparing Asian coins to Australian coins

Acknowledgements

The Australian Curriculum alignment statement is based on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) materials which are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia (CC BY NC SA) licence.

Activity 1: Money memory

In this activity students will practise recognising and saying the names and values of Australian, Japanese and Singaporean coins through playing games.

Task 1: Australian coins

  1. Coins for this game can be generated by using Australian, Japanese or Singaporean coins. The aim of the game is to match the image of the coin with a written symbolic value.
  2. Divide the students into pairs. Provide each pair with a set of Australian coins on cards. Each set includes graphics of the six Australian coins (dollars and cents) and the set of corresponding values in written form ($ and c). 
  3. All the cards are placed face down.
  4. Students take turns to turn two cards over, looking for matching pairs.
  5. When a matching pair is successfully identified it is set aside and the student has another turn.
  6. If unsuccessful, the cards from that round are replaced face down and the second student has their turn.
  7. The game finishes when all cards are paired.
  8. If this game is being played competitively, the student with the most correct pairs of cards wins.
  9. For variations, as each card is turned over, the student could say the amount shown.

Japanese coins

  1. Show students the Japanese coins and ask why some Japanese coins have holes.
  2. The Japanese coins game is played the same way as Australian coins, using the images of the Japanese coins and amounts in yen (¥).

Singaporean coins

  1. Show students the images of the Singaporean coins.
  2. The Singaporean coins game is played the same way as Australian coins

Acknowledgements

Images: Permission to use Australian currency coin designs was obtained from the Royal Australian Mint; Permission to use reproductions and images of Japanese coins was obtained from the Ministry of Finance Japan; Permission to use photographs of Singapore currency coins was granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore

Different currencies

Playing with moneyPlaying with money

Australian 50 centsAustralian 50 cents

Japanese 50 yenJapanese 50 yen

Singaporean 50 centsSingaporean 50 cents

Activity 2: Coin dominoes

In this activity, students play games to become familiar with different currencies.

Task 1: Playing individually

  1. Provide each student with a set of Australian coin dominoes.
  2. Ask them to make a continuous 'snake' by placing matching tiles at either end of a row of tiles.
  3. They may undo turns in order to place all tiles.

Task 2: Playing in pairs

  1. Place students in pairs and give each pair a set of Australian coin dominoes.
  2. Ask students to share all the tiles and take it in turns to make a continuous 'snake' by placing matching tiles at either end of the row of tiles.
  3. Ask students to say the name of the matching tile while it is being placed.
  4. Students miss a turn if no tile can be placed at any time.
  5. If this game is being played competitively, the winner is the student who places all of their tiles first.

Task 3: Dominoes with other currencies

  1. Provide pairs of students with Japanese coin dominoes or Singaporean coin dominoes
  2. Ask students to share all the tiles and take it in turns to make a continuous 'snake' by placing matching tiles at either end of the row of tiles.
  3. Ask students to say the name of the matching tile while it is being placed

Acknowledgements

Images: Permission to use reproductions and images of Japanese coins was obtained from the Ministry of Finance Japan; Permission to use photographs of Singapore currency coins was granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore

Coin dominoes

Australian coinsAustralian coins

Singaporean and Japanese coinsSingaporean and Japanese coins

Activity 3: Money dice

In this activity, students become familiar with Australian coins and notes by playing games. This activity can be played in pairs or in a larger group.

Task: Money dice

  1. Provide pairs of students with a dice or wooden block with amounts of money written on each of the six sides.
  2. Replicas of the amounts of coins and notes, printed on cards generated from Australian coins and Australian notes are held in a 'bank'. 
  3. One of each pair rolls the dice and says the amount on the top of the dice.
  4. All players have to make the amount using coins or notes from the bank.
  5. Repeat the process until all of the bank's money is used and the activity is finished.
  6. For variations, use amounts on the dice that require more coins to be used.
  7. To set a challenge, ask students to use as few coins as they can to make the amounts.
  8. Have one dice with dollar amounts and one with cents.
  9. Roll the two dice and get students to make up the combined amount with coins or notes.

Acknowledgements

Images: Consent to use images of Australian banknotes was obtained from the Reserve Bank of Australia

Game of money

Dice with dollars and centsDice with dollars and cents

5 dollars5 dollars

10 dollars10 dollars

20 dollars20 dollars

50 dollars50 dollars

100 dollars100 dollars

Activity 4: Match my money

In this activity  students have the opportunity to recognise the value of Australian coins and notes and make equivalent amounts of money in different ways.

Task: Match my money

  1. The game can be played at a basic level; for example, one player placing two 10c coins and another placing a 20c coin. At higher levels both notes and coins can be used and the second player has to place the minimum number of notes and coins to match the value.
  2. Create Match my money grids such as that shown on the right for pairs of students to use in this game.
  3. Explain the rules to your students:
    • The first player places an amount of money in one box on the Match my money card.
    • The second player must say the amount – 'That's two dollars sixty' – and place a matching amount, but not using an identical set of coins in the other box.
    • To set a challenge, introduce the reverse side of the Australian notes into the game.
  4. Students can repeat the game using paper cut-outs of Japanese yen or Singaporean coins.
  5. For variation, students could bring other currencies from home and see if they can play the game with those coins and notes.

Acknowledgements

Image: Permission to use Australian currency coin designs was obtained from the Royal Australian Mint

Match my money grid

Coins on a grid with an equals signMatched coins on the grid

This learning sequence requires Australian coins or replicas. Plastic coin collections and reusable coin stamps are commercially available. Alternatively, teachers may choose to make their own models and display charts using the activity resources.

A small collection of coins from Japan, Singapore and other countries from the Asia region would be useful for display purposes. If your school teaches an Asian language, it would be useful to display some coins from the countries where the language is spoken.

Students will begin to recognise and develop familiarity with the Australian currency, and recognise that other countries have different currencies.

The activities aim to assist students to:

  • recognise and say the names and values of the Australian coins and notes
  • make the associations between the names of various coins and notes and the numbers on them
  • become familiar with the shape and relative size of coins
  • create equivalent amounts of money in a variety of ways.

The difficulty levels may be adjusted to cater for different ability levels and be used beyond Year 1. 

Activity 1: Money memory

Students require sets of Australian coin images on cards. Each set includes graphics of the six Australian coins (dollars and cents) and the set of corresponding values in written form ($ and c). There should be one set per student pair.

Asian coins like Japanese or Singaporean coins with its currency can be used to practise Asian money memory. Masters are provided of Japanese coins and Singaporean coins to create sets of currency cards. Some students in the class may have access to the currency of other countries. Make a set of cards representing these currencies as well.

Activity 2: Coin dominoes

Students require Australian coin dominoes to play and practise matching tiles. A master is provided in the activity that can be copied so that there is one for each pair of students.

Activity 3: Money dice

Students play with money dice, plastic dice or small wooden blocks, on which amounts of money are written on each side. The amounts may vary according to the ability of the students to add to numbers together. Optional sets can be made representing Japanese and Singaporean money.

Activity 4: Match my money

Students will use Match my money grids and sets of Australian coins to learn different ways to make amounts of equal value. Both sides of the Australian notes have been provided so that the game can be played using either or both. Japanese and Singaporean coin cards are alternative.

Useful websites

  • Coins of the World – Japan – an excellent website that provides images of coins from around the world, their associated stories and games that can be played with coins (from H.I.P. Pocket Change)
  • Domino games – a website that provides the rules for different games that can be played with dominoes (from Domino-Games)

It is recommended that teachers preview websites to ensure that they are suitable for their students prior to use in class. Content accessed via these links is not owned or controlled by the Asia Education Foundation and is subject to the terms of use of the associated website.

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