Kid's Frugal Crafts: Piggy Bank

Each week Mom on Dealz brings you a kid friendly craft that is fun, educational, and frugal! Yesterday, June 1st is a little known holiday-"Flip Coin Day". There are so many activities that can be done with coins but I have picked my favorites and listed them below.

Piggy Bank
Materials:Oatmeal container, coffee container, pringles can, etc
sturdy cardboard
Knife (for adult use)
1 penny, 1 nickel, 1 dime, 1 quarter
pencil
white paper
crayons
Directions:
1. Cut a sheet of paper to wrap around your "bank". Have your child decorate it.
2. Glue or tape the paper to the container.
3. Have your child "rub" an impression of each coin by placing paper over them and coloring over them. Glue the pictures to the lid of the container.

4. Cut holes next to each picture for coins to be inserted.
5. Cut 2 pieces of cardboard to fit standing in the containter. Arrange them so that there are 4 divided areas in the container.
6. Place the lid on top of the container so that each hole is over one of the divided areas inside.
7. Start saving!
Educational applications: 1. Have a discussion with your child about each coin, their worth, design, size, etc. 2. Talk with your child about what saving means. If they are old enough, you can talk about an item they may want to purchase and how they can use the bank to save for it. Money Mobile

Materials:
Coin printouts-you can print some HERE
String
Hanger
Crayons

Directions:
1. You can either print out the coins or have your child color some of their own.
2. Examine each coin and discuss the size, color, worth, inscriptions,etc.
3. Punch holes in each coin and tie string thru them.
4. Attach each coin's strings to the hanger.

Educational application: Use the mobile to help your child ID coins.
"Flip For Probability"-game

Teaching probability to children is a difficult skill. A game my students used to love to play was Flip for Probability. All you need is a piece of paper and a coin.
1. Show your child a coin and examine them sides. Discuss that one side is known as heads and the other side is known as tails.
2. Tell them you will be flipping a coin 20 times today. Have them predict what side will land the most during the game-heads or tails? Why do they think this? Discuss that since there are only 2 sides, the probability is that the coin will land on each side pretty equally.
3. Flip the coin 20 times and record each time what side the coin lands on-heads or tails.
4. Discuss the results.

Educational application: This game helps your child understand probability (the likelihood of something happening), making predictions, and recording results on paper.