MoneyCoins & bills
Name: Date:
Find the change, then circle money that makes that amount. You do not need to use the fewest pieces.
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Making change worksheets
Making change is subtraction with a reason a child recognizes: you paid more than it cost, so how much comes back? These free printable sheets give a price and the money handed over, and ask for the change.
Kid stuck on one? You don’t just get the sheet.
Making change
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
The arithmetic is subtraction across a dollar — $5.00 minus $3.65 — and the useful method is the one a shopkeeper uses: counting up from the price to the amount paid rather than borrowing down a column. Counting on from $3.65 to $4.00 and then to $5.00 turns one hard subtraction into two easy additions, and the page is built so that counting up works cleanly.
Why this sheet works
Each of the six purchases pays with a sensible amount — a round figure above the price — so the change is a real amount rather than a puzzle. The totals vary so no two answers match, and writing the change in dollars and cents keeps the decimal point in play.
How this one works
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
Change from $1
price:49¢
handed over:$1
49¢+ 51¢→$1
49¢+ 51¢→$1
51¢
- Two numbers matter and neither is a coin on the tray: the price, 49¢, and what was handed over, $1. Everything else is for afterwards.
- Count UP from the price, not down from the payment. It is one hop here: 49¢ to $1. Done as a take-away this is where the borrowing goes wrong; counting up there is nothing to borrow.
- That one hop IS the change: 51¢. Now find coins that make that amount.