How many ways make the same amount?
Ten nickels cover far more table than two quarters. They are worth the same. Add coins and take them away, and see how little the size of a pile tells you.
50¢ 2 coins
Two quarters. The fewest coins that make this amount.
Same amount, different coins
Or click a coin on the table to take that one off.
Ready to try some? Money worksheets
Where it usually goes wrong
The size of the pile gets counted instead of the value. Ten nickels look like far more than two quarters and are worth exactly the same, and until that is seen rather than stated, counting mixed coins is guesswork dressed up as arithmetic.
Try this
- Make 50¢ with 2 coins, then with 10. The table looks completely different and the total does not move.
- Take one coin off a pile and put a different one on. Some swaps change the total and some do not — which ones is the whole skill.
- Build the same amount with the fewest coins you can. That is what a shop assistant does without thinking about it.
Where this goes next
Coins are the first place most children meet decimals doing real work, and the first place where two different-looking things are equal in value rather than in appearance.