A mock store set up as a center gives the first-grade students an interactive way to explore money. The kids practice a real-world application of adding and spending money. If you have enough space, set up shelves with items the kids can pretend to buy. Empty food containers are cheap and work well to fill the shelves of your store. For a smaller center with limited space, create a mock store ad. The kids choose from the ad the items they want to purchase with their pretend money. For a structured store activity, set a spending limit or create shopping lists that require the kids to total the costs.
Pretend money is the main component of this center. Include a container of various bills and coins. You also need cards that have different amounts of money written on them. The kids use the pretend money to make the corresponding amount. For example, if the card said 85 cents, the child could use three quarters and a dime to make the amount. This center option is flexible and simple to set up. Change out the cards to larger amounts throughout the year as the first-graders learn how to count larger amounts of money.
This center idea combines counting money with spelling practice. Most first-grade classes have weekly spelling tests, so this gets your students ready for the test. You need an alphabet chart with a square below each letter. Fill in a picture of a coin for each letter. At the beginning of the year, you might only use nickels and dimes to make it easier. As the first-graders learn more about money, you can make a new chart that includes pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. The center also includes a stack of cards with words on them. The kids find each letter of the word on the money chart to determine the value of the letter. They add the values of the letters to find out the value of the word. For example, if B corresponds with a nickel, A corresponds with a penny and D corresponds with a quarter, the word "bad" would be worth 31 cents.
If you don't want to mess with pieces of pretend money that will get lost or scattered in your math center, homemade card games are an alternative. Instead of coins, you use pictures of money on the cards to create games. One option is a matching game. Create pairs of money cards: One card has an amount written on it and the match has a picture of the coins to make the amount. A pair could be a card that says "32 cents" and a card with a picture of three dimes and two pennies. Another option is a money-themed version of War. Each child has a stack of cards with pictures of coins to make different amounts of money. Each player puts down one card. The kids look at the pictures to see who has the card with the highest amount pictured. That child gets both cards.