Hand out 10 pennies to each student. Ask the child to count the number of pennies. Take one penny away and ask how many pennies are left if you take one away. Practice with different computations using the pennies.
Ask the students how many ways you can get a sum with the pennies. By focusing on the breakdown, the kids think creatively about how to form different groupings to arrive at that sum. Grouping visually aids in carrying out calculations without pencil and paper.
Create "fact families" with addition and subtraction. For example, using the pennies the students figure out one "fact family" is 3+4=7. So if three plus four equals seven, then seven minus, or take away, four equals three.
Ask kids to make change with play money. Start with coins. Ask a child how many pennies you would get from a nickel. As the child understands simple concepts, use more difficult computations, such as how many pennies, dimes and nickels makes a quarter.
Set up a classroom store with two or more children. Use play food and a register to become a pretend grocery store. One child pays for items with pretend money, while another child plays cashier counting out change. Switch the roles so both children learn about counting the change.