Looking for lesson plans that teach students about financial literacy? Many of the U.S. Mint’s resources include tips and tricks for teaching students about counting, budgeting, and managing money.
Lesson Plans
Explore our free lesson plans, created by educators, for educators that teach students about financial literacy.
Do You Like to Spend or Save? (Grades K-2)
After briefly discussing spending and saving habits, students take a poll to see how their peers like to manage money. Then students graph their findings and discuss the survey results.
Let’s Go Shopping (Grades K-2)
Students will apply their knowledge of adding coins to a real life situation when they create different coin combinations to buy their daily snack.
Learn to Earn What You Tend to Spend (Grades 2-3)
Students will explain the meanings of spending and earning and associate the correct mathematical function with each one. Students will also make change up to a dollar.
A Homegrown Budget (Grades 2-3)
Students will describe the life of a Western homestead settler in the 1800s. Students will use addition and subtraction to calculate a budget.
George’s Place (Grades 2-3)
Students will solve story problems involving money. They will use higher level critical thinking skills to develop their own strategies for solving the problems.
Alexander’s Coin Conundrum (Grades 3-5)
Using Judith Viorst’s book Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday as a reference, students use several computation techniques to calculate how Alexander spends all of his money in no time at all.
Counting With Coins Game
Teach your students how to count with coins using our free online game, Counting With Coins. This game teaches basic math concepts and coin identification for grades K-2 in a fun grocery store setting. Kids learn about the value of money while earning badges with the Mint Pals. Check out our other free educational games to learn more about coins.
Making Coins
Learn about how the U.S. Mint makes coins in our fun video designed for kids. The diagram shows how coins get to the public.
Other Resources
Check out some other sites that provide free lesson plans and educational resources: