Money and Value

Before we start

Five minutes before Lesson 1. Collect what pupils already think — spoken or written, no scoring. It tells you where to start.

1. 1. What is money for? Write or draw two things you can do with it.
2. 2. Name something valuable that you cannot buy.
3. 3. How many coins can make €2? Show one way.

Lesson 1. The journey of a €10 note

Penny · 45 min · Explain that money can pay for goods and services, show prices, and be kept for later.

1. Draw arrows between baker, bread, customer and €3 price.
2. The customer has €10 and buys bread for €3. How much remains?
3. Circle one: money is useful because everyone must want the same swap / it can be accepted in payment.
4. Name something valuable that is not bought or sold.

Lesson 2. Who made this possible?

Tally · 45 min · Connect earning to work that helps someone, while distinguishing paid work, gifts and unpaid care.

1. Match baker → bread, driver → journey, librarian → book access.
2. Sort: wages for a shift, birthday €5, helping a neighbour for free.
3. Write how a cleaner or carer helps other people.
4. Why is “unpaid” not the same as “unimportant”?

Lesson 3. Make the amount

Penny · 45 min · Recognise fictional coins and notes and combine them to make and check a small amount.

1. Make €1.75 using two different sets of tokens.
2. You hold €2, €0.50 and €0.20. What is the total?
3. A pencil costs €1.30. Show one way to pay it exactly.
4. Why can two different piles of coins be worth the same amount?

Lesson 4. Price and change detective

Penny · 45 min · Read a price, compare two prices and calculate change.

1. Buy notebook and pencil. What is the total?
2. Pay €10. What change?
3. Buy notebook and sticker sheet instead. Which pair costs more and by how much?
4. Name one non-price question before buying a notebook.

Final mission. The Money Hero classroom market

Penny and Tally · 45 min · Explain earning and exchange, make an amount, calculate a total and change, and distinguish price from value.

1. How did Alex earn the €10, and how is earning different from a gift?
2. What is the total price of the notebook and pencil?
3. Show coins that could pay that total exactly.
4. What change should Alex receive from €10? Check by adding total and change.
5. Does the friend’s unpaid help have value? Explain.
6. Are stickers automatically more useful than a pencil because they cost more? Give a reason.

Extension. The swap problem

Tally · 45 min · Explain why direct swapping is hard and how a money everyone accepts makes exchange easier.

1. Describe the two swaps that get you a comic.
2. Describe selling and buying with an accepted coin.
3. Why can money help even when both routes take two steps?
4. What happens if the comic owner refuses your coin?

Extension. Same thing, different value

Penny · 45 min · Show that a fixed price and a person's value can differ, because value depends on who needs something and when.

1. Match umbrella, torch and water bottle to rainy day, power cut and hot walk.
2. The umbrella's price is €4 on a dry day and on a rainy day. What changes?
3. Give an example where a cheap item is very valuable.
4. Is the most expensive choice always the best? Explain in one line.

Extension. Estimate before you pay

Penny · 45 min · Estimate a total by rounding prices and check whether a fixed amount is enough before working out the exact cost.

1. Round €1.90, €3.10 and €2.95 to the nearest euro and add them.
2. Does €10 look like enough for all three?
3. Now find the exact total and the change from €10.
4. When is an estimate good enough, and when do you need the exact price?

Extension. The faces of money

Tally · 45 min · Describe how money has taken different forms and why a useful money is widely accepted, lasting and easy to count.

1. Which payment forms are accepted in Town A and Town B?
2. Can a shell be useful money in Town B? Explain.
3. Why is a melting ice block difficult to keep for later?
4. Name two useful properties of a payment form.

Extension. Value without a price

Penny · 45 min · Recognise valuable things that are not bought or sold, and that money measures price, not a person's worth.

1. Sort: notebook €3, a friend's help, a ball €5, a clean park, a kind word.
2. Which of these has no price tag?
3. Add one valuable thing of your own that costs no money.
4. Why is having more money not the same as being a better person?

My money reflection

A quiet end to the month. Not a test, not a money-personality quiz.

1. One thing I understand about money now that I didn't before…
2. Something valuable in my life that has no price…
3. A money question I still want to answer…

Cut-out coins

Play money for the lessons and the mission — fictional, for practice only. Cut along the dashed circles; print one page per pair for extra coins.