A handful of coins has two numbers in it: how many coins, and how much they are worth. These free printable word problems keep those two apart, which is the whole difficulty and the whole point.
Twelve coins is not twelve cents, and holding count and value as separate quantities is the reasoning these problems build. A dime and a nickel are two coins and fifteen cents, and a child who writes the count in one column and the value in another stops conflating them — the same two-column thinking that unlocks value problems all the way up to mixtures and systems later.
Why this sheet works
The stories stay to one or two coin kinds so the arithmetic never overwhelms the idea. What varies is which number the question asks for: sometimes the count, sometimes the total worth, sometimes how many of one kind given the other.
How this one works
One question from a sheet like this one, worked a step at a time — with a sentence saying what just happened and why.
1In an arcade game, a gold coin is worth 10 points and a silver coin is worth 2 points. A player collected 7 gold coins and 5 silver coins.How many points in total?
2In an arcade game, each gold coin is worth 15 points and each silver coin is worth 5 points. Altogether, a player collected 6 gold coins and 8 silver coins.How many points is that in total?
3A glass bottle in a recycling contest scores 15 points, while an aluminum can scores 3. One player collected 10 glass bottles and 6 aluminum cans.How many points did the player score altogether?
4In a recycling contest, a glass bottle is worth 15 points and an aluminum can is worth 2 points. A player collected 7 glass bottles and 11 aluminum cans.How many points in total?
