Description

What our Money: Penny lesson plan includes

Lesson Objectives and Overview: Money: Penny teaches young learners about the US one-cent coin. Students will be able to recognize a penny, describe its color, and understand that it is worth 1 cent. This lesson is for students in preschool.

PENNY CLEANING STATION ACTIVITY

Give each student a small paper plate or tray and as many dirty pennies as desired. Tell students they are going to be making their pennies look shiny and clean. Keep at least one dirty penny to compare to the clean pennies. Have students sprinkle salt on their pennies. Give each student a small cup with vinegar and a Q-tip or toothbrush. Demonstrate how to dip the Q-tip or toothbrush in the vinegar and rub it on the salted pennies. Students can add more salt as needed. After pennies are clean, students can dip the pennies in a bowl of water or spray them with a spray bottle to rinse them off. Dry pennies on a paper towel. Compare a clean penny to a dirty penny.

Options and Extensions

There are several of additional options you could add to the lesson. Read the poem to the class. Give students a small pile of coins and help them sort the different ones. Give students playdough or clay and let them press a penny into the playdough to make impressions. For sensory fun, set up a bin with cloud dough or kinetic sand and have students dig for pennies. Set up a small classroom shop where everything costs a penny. Have students buy items using real penny. Make sure the items are priced appropriately to teach the value of a penny.

Penny Stack Challenge: See how many pennies students can stack before the pile tumbles! Great for motor skills and counting practice. Color or decorate the penny coloring page from Additional Resources. Use the enlarged penny from Additional Resources to create a simple puzzle. Cut the penny into three to five jagged pieces and let students reassemble it.

As an extension to the lesson, read the following books:

• The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
• Penny: The Forgotten Coin by Denise Brennan-Nelson
• Benny’s Pennies by Pat Brisson
• A Dollar for Penny by Julie Glass
• Curious George Saves His Pennies by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey
• A Dollar, A Penny, How Much and How Many? by Brian P. Cleary

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Our preschool lessons include additional resources that you can use throughout the lesson. They are provided to give you as much content as possible to complete the lesson without having to find sources on their own. For instance, if the lesson requires you to show students pictures, you can use the ones in the additional resources.

Preschool Philosophy

Our preschool curriculum is thoughtfully designed by professional teachers to nurture curiosity, build foundational skills, and prepare young learners for kindergarten and beyond. Each preschool lesson plan offers age-appropriate activities to promote early literacy, math readiness, creativity, and social-emotional growth.

At the preschool level, children are developing rapidly—socially, emotionally, physically, and academically. The goal of our lesson plans for preschool is to provide structured yet engaging learning experiences that spark imagination, encourage problem-solving, and foster a lifelong love of learning.

CURRICULUM FOCUS

Our curriculum focuses on key objectives such as:

• Building early literacy and language skills through stories, songs, and interactive activities.
• Developing number sense, shapes, colors, and patterns with hands-on lessons.
• Encouraging creativity and self-expression through art, play, and music.
• Supporting social-emotional development, cooperation, and confidence.
• Strengthening fine and gross motor skills through active learning.