As Christmas draws near, it’s fun to take a break from our regular curriculum and dive into Christmas-themed unit studies. My son really enjoys pretending to shop with play money, so here is a set of Christmas shopping cards and activities I made for him.
This set includes cards with Christmas treats and toys to buy. There are four levels of learning.
Level 1 is for shopping with coins only:
Level 2 is for shopping with dollars only.
Level 3 is for shopping with dollars and coins, without regrouping when adding the cost of two items.
And Level 4 is for shopping and coins with regrouping when adding the cost of 2-3 items:
With these cards and play money, there are so many ways to practice math and problem solving. For example, students can 1) calculate how much money they have and 2) choose items they wish to buy and learn to pay for them with coins, dollars, or dollars and coins.
Extension activities include:
- Figuring out the change
- Determining what they can buy when given a certain amount of money
- Determining if they have enough money to buy a particular item
To help with all these activities, I include visual supports. Here are some samples from the level 1 set:
I print these visual supports on card stock, and stick them inside dry erase pouches, so we can use the worksheets repeatedly.
The play money is from the Teacher Created Resources Play Money Tray. I love the fact that it has a cover for storage and curved coin compartments which make it easier for kids to remove the coins.
Download the Let’s Go Christmas Shopping Level 1 here for FREE:
You can purchase all four levels at Teacher Pay Teachers.
Finally, here’s a little video of how we use a rekenrek to support our calculations:
Happy shopping and Merry Christmas!
For more Christmas-Themed resources check out these posts:
Christmas and Nativity-Themed Handwriting Pages
Nativity and Christmas Picture and Word Cards (for learning to read sight words)
The Nativity in Art for Children
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