The Buying Items and Making Change tool helps students practice real-world money skills. They learn how to pay for items, calculate change, and give back the correct amount using bills and coins. This makes money practice more practical and engaging.
How it works:
An item with a price appears at the top of the tool.
Drag coins and bills into the left box to pay for the item. The payment must be greater than the cost, just like in real life.
In the right box, drag the correct coins and bills to represent the change due.
Click Check to see if both the payment and change are correct.
Use the arrows to move between different items.
Click Reset to clear the boxes and start again.
Settings:
Click the gear icon to adjust the tool:
Currency: Choose from different currencies, such as US Dollars, Euros, Canadian Dollars, and more.
Choose money values: Select which bills and coins students can use.
Highest item price: Set the maximum cost of items that appear (for example, $10 or less).
Notation of whole numbers: Decide whether prices display as $3 or $3.00.
Extra option: Require students to make change using the fewest number of bills and coins.
💡Tip: Turn this tool into a role-play activity. Assign one student as the “shopkeeper” and another as the “customer.” The customer pays for an item, while the shopkeeper must count out the correct change. This interactive practice strengthens both money skills and problem-solving.