Saving, Spending, and Giving
Monthly Mint Trivia: Who was appointed the first director of the United States Mint?
Share and Give Gifts
As the holiday season approaches, we reflect on the importance of gifts and giving to others – whether that’s gifting for a specific holiday or giving back to the community. Teaching the skills to build and share savings at a young age can set kids up for smart money practices later in life. Read on for ways to use coins in lessons about saving, budgeting, and planning for gifts. And if you have a young coin collector in your life, check out the Mint’s gift guide for kids.
Learn to spend, save, and give gifts with resources from the U.S. Mint Coin Classroom and around the web.
Start with financial literacy basics, like introductory concepts around money, how to save/spend, goal setting, and more:
- Teach the basic concepts of spending, saving, and sharing using the Spend, Save, or Share Activity (Grades 2+).
- Reinforce earning, spending, and saving concepts, as well as practice the mathematical functions associated with these terms using the lesson plan, Learn to Earn When You Tend to Spend (Grades 2-3).
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s Money Smart program offers online lesson plans and resources for educators, organized by grade level. These lessons teach the basic concepts of earning money, needs vs. wants, setting goals, and more.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also has resources for parents, caregivers, and educators to support financial literacy across a variety of ages through their Money As You Grow initiative.
- Once coins have been collected and saved up, use the Coin Count n ‘Roll Activity (Grades 2+) to prepare the coins for trading in at the bank.
Practice counting and using coins, as well as tracking spending and using a budget with these lessons, games, and activities:
- Use the Let's Go Shopping (Grades K-2nd) lesson to work on coin combinations to purchase snacks.
- Practice using coins to make purchases in the I'm in the Money! (Grades K-2nd) lesson plan.
- National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has free online games to help students identify coins and money, as well as how to use money to make purchases in real-life scenarios.
- Check, Please! (Grades 3-6): Using Amy Axelrod's Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun with Math and Money as a reference, students calculate how much money the pigs in the book find and spend. Then they determine how else to spend the money at a restaurant and create posters showing their menu orders.
- Plinky's Piggy Bank Party (Grades 2+): Players practice earning money each level and spending earnings on upgrades for Plinky.
- Counting with Coins (Grades K-6): In this shopping game, players will play smaller math games to reinforce coin identification and using coins while purchasing supplies for a camping trip.
- Cents-able Shopping Activity (Grades 2+): Create a play grocery store, set a budget, and purchase items using coins. This activity allows students to practice using a budget with real or pretend coins and money.
Want more ideas? Reach out to education.outreach@usmint.treas.gov for recommendations on lesson plans and activities for your students.
Coin of the Month: American Innovation $1 Coin - Maine
The 2024 American Innovation $1 coin representing Maine honors Dr. Bernard Lown, a Lithuanian-American cardiologist. He was a pioneer in the research of sudden cardiac death. In 1962, he developed a new method for correcting dangerously abnormal heart rhythms, called fibrillations. At the time, fibrillations were believed to be responsible for 40 percent of fatal heart attacks in the United States every year.
Dr. Lown's device used direct current precisely timed to certain points in the heartbeat's cycle. This breakthrough became a lifesaving technique used worldwide. It led to new cardiac resuscitation techniques and technological developments, including modern pacemakers and defibrillators implanted in the chests of heart patients that automatically detect and correct abnormal rhythms.
Numismatic Resources
What Are Coins Made Of?
Play the Map Mania Game
We Want to Hear from You!
Are you interested in incorporating coins into your classroom next year, but aren't sure where to start? Let us help you! The U.S. Mint offers K-6 lesson plans, online educational games, videos, online quizzes, a free Coin Coloring Book, and other resources. Reach out to us at education.outreach@usmint.treas.gov to request resources that fit your education needs.
Trivia Answer: David Rittenhouse was the first director of the Mint.