Money Games for Kids

Money games for kids are a great hands-on way to teach kids the essentials of using and managing dollars and cents. Many kids learn and remember ideas better by doing activities, rather than simply having things explained to them. There are plenty of games and activities you can use to teach kids various concepts relating to cash – in fact, you probably already have a few right under your nose.

Money Games for Kids

The easiest way to teach a child anything is to make it fun. Math is used in many aspects of our daily lives. It is very important to integrate these two concepts, part of life and fun, into a math game so children will enjoy learning about finances.

Money games for kids are available in all forms of gaming whether it is a traditional board game, made up game or one of the latest online games. Most of these math games portray a real life situation where one has to use math to find a solution. It may be as simple as giving change to a storekeeper or as complex as running a thriving business.

Before choosing one from the variety of money math games for kids available, you must determine the following:

• Does the level of the particular game match your kids intellect level? 
• How many players are required to play that particular game? 
• Is adult supervision necessary for the correct understanding of that game by the kid? 

Trying to play the wrong money math games for kids may result in the child getting overwhelmed or frustrated by the game.

Using Play Money Around the House

One excellent way to help your kids learn about money quickly is to turn your household into a marketplace. Think about the way a theme park will sell “Disney dollars” which can only be spent there at the park. You can set up a similar system in your house using play cash.

For instance, you buy a stockpile of candy – if the kids want some, they have to pay for it in play money (of which they have a limited supply, of course). This helps teach them to be wise about what they spend their cash on, since they can’t buy everything with their limited amount. It will also give them greater respect for the value of everyday household items and food.

Printable Money Games for Kids

We have several money games available to download and print. You will need Adobe Reader to view these games.

Counting dollars and cents flashcards - practice counting coins



Counting dollars and cents flashcards - practice add and subtraction with American coin



Counting Euros flashcards- practice add and subtract with Euro coins



Grocery Shopping Game - Using real or play cash use this game to practice spending money at the store with buying items in the game.




Bingo game-players find a matching coin amount on their bingo sheet to go along with the total amount read on the calling card.




See our Teaching Money Skills Workbook for more games and worksheets to print.

Learning Games on our TMS site

Counting Money- practice making change
Cash Register Game- practice counting money
Store hide and seek - Help children find value in money by "finding" money around the house to spend in a "store"

Money Management Games

Money management games help kids learn skills such as decision making, planning and managing money in real life situations through a game. See our review and ideas for money management games.

Online Money Games for Kids 

There are lots of online games available these days that teach kids about a certain aspect of managing finances. Games are great, because they disguise learning under the cover of fun. Often, if you sit kids down in a classroom-like environment and start lecturing about spending and saving, they’ll switch off just on principle. But if you can allow them to make the decision to start learning about money through a fun medium, it makes the whole process much easier.

Mad Money - Save up your coins in this online game and see if you have enough in the end to buy your prized item.

Be your own Boss- Test your business skills and see if you can be your own boss in this online money game.

Counting Coins Games- practice counting pennies with this online counting game.  Great for Pre-K -2.

Fun shopping game online - using British currency find out what is the best savings when buying groceries in this online game.

Practice counting our cents - online money game

Change Maker- This online game that teaches basic addition and subtraction to a child. It also has a quiz module which asks questions based on the age of the player. This game can be played alone on a computer and comes with different sets of questions for different age groups. In the game, the player has to keep buying various everyday articles and with each purchase comes a question.

If the question is answered correctly, the change of that particular purchase is added to the piggy bank. If answered incorrectly, the change is deducted. The difficulty of the questions increases with the balance in the piggy bank. Adult supervision is not necessary for this game unless the child has trouble operating the computer.

Road Trip to Savings

Ed's Bank- Help Ed save money online game

Subtracting with Money- using British currency

Buy 2 items - what two items can you buy with the money shown.

Practice counting- count dollars and cents and enter the amount with this practice game.

Comparing cash amounts- Which group has more?

Get Kids Involved in Household Finances

For older kids, introducing them to household finances can be a great way to get them interested in learning. For one thing, they’re dealing with real money – many older kids won’t have much enthusiasm for a play money system.


Keep the activity simple at first – you can start with something like allowing the child to create a budget for spending on afternoon snacks. This helps kids learn to take responsibility for their spending decisions.

Money games for kids create common monetary occurrences in everyday life and are very intriguing to a child. The introduction to money and money transactions that these games provide is a valuable learning experience.

Do you have any money games for kids to share?