With the holidays just around the corner, buying gifts for friends and family is on just about everyone’s to-do list. Many of you probably include your children in this activity, and they may even use some of their own money to purchase presents. Although the concept of exchanging money can be foreign to little ones, there’s no harm in teaching it early.

You may remember the Four Little Coins song I shared several months back. In today’s song, we address paper bills – the green stuff. Although I’m thinking that I should probably write a new money song about plastic, since credit and debit cards are becoming then norm these days. But we’ll keep it old-school for the time being; take a listen.

Green money, green money,
Paper bills are green.
Starting with one to one hundred dollars,
And those that come between.

One dollar,
Two dollars,
Ten and twenty,
Bills in each amount.
Also fifty and one hundred
Dollar bills to count.

Green money, green money,
Paper bills are green.
Starting with one to one hundred dollars,
And those that come between.

Use this tune as an opportunity to explain that paper bills come in different amounts, and use a real (or real-looking) bill to show your child or student how to tell the difference between each. Emphasize that even though a dollar bill and one hundred dollar bill may look very similar, the latter is worth MUCH more than the former. You can also discuss making change, if you’re feeling extra ambitious!

Recognizing, counting, and using money are functional skills that every child is taught at some point in his or her education. I’ve been impressed so many times over the years by the creative methods that teachers use to teach the concept of money, and I can’t tell you how many different songs I’ve heard about the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.

So I thought to myself, why not add one more to that heaping collection? The song I’m sharing today focuses on recognizing the four main coins, and also their monetary value. I have yet to use this song in a music therapy session as it is fairly new, but hopefully it is effective. “Four Little Coins” goes like this:

There are four little coins in my pocket,
Each one has its own name.
These four little coins are all money,
but their values are not the same.

A penny is copper in color.
Small, thin and round, you see.
Abraham Lincoln is the face on this coin,
One cent for you and me.

CHORUS

A nickel is silver in color.
Small, fat and round, you see.
Thomas Jefferson is the face on this coin,
Five cents for you and me.

CHORUS

A dime is silver in color.
Small, thin and round, you see.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the face on this coin,
Ten cents for you and me.

CHORUS

A quarter is silver in color.
Big, thin and round, you see.
George Washington is the face on this coin,
Twenty-five cents for you and me.

There are four little coins in my pocket,
Now you know each one’s name.
What it looks like and how much each one is worth,
Because their values are not the same.

I’ve always found that it works best to use actual coins when teaching money concepts, rather than pictures or fake money. One thing I’ve done in the past is put velcro on the back of each coin, and asked students to match the coin with its correct value, name, or description. I made a book for this purpose during my internship, and still pull it out from time to time. What kinds of activities or songs do you use to teach children about money?