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1st Grade — Money & Business

Counting coins, comparing prices, and running a first stand.

Ages 6–7

The one idea

You can add money up, and you can compare two prices before you choose.

Six and seven year olds can count mixed coins to a dollar and can hold a two-to-four week goal. This is the right year for their first real stand.

📚 The 6 lessons🧠 Money check🤔 What would you do?🧮 Work it out🫙 Allowance calculator

The six 1st Grade money lessons

One per pillar. Each has what to teach, a ten-minute thing to do, and the exact words you can say — so you can start right now without preparing anything.

💼 Earn

People pay you for solving problems

Nobody pays you just because you're nice. They pay you because you fixed something that was annoying them. Thirsty on a hot day is a problem. Cold lemonade solves it. That's a business.

How money actually gets made.
1Spot aproblem2Fix it well3Get paid forit4They tell afriend

The fourth picture is why doing it well matters. One good job usually brings the next one.

Do this

Walk around the house and find three annoying things. For each, say what someone could do to fix it.

Say this

"What's the problem you're solving? If there isn't one, nobody buys it — no matter how much work you did."

A story

Jonah counts the problems on his street

Jonah wanted to earn money and couldn't think of anything he was good at. His mum told him to stop thinking about himself and walk down the street looking for things that annoyed people. He came back with a list: the bins go out on Tuesday and Mr Pace can't lift his, three houses have leaves all over the path, and the twins next door lose their ball over the fence about twice a day.

Which of those is a business?

All three. Jonah found them by looking outwards instead of inwards — nobody pays you for what you are good at, they pay you for what is bothering them.

The usual mistake

"What am I good at?" It is the wrong first question, and it stops most people before they start.

The fix

Ask "what is annoying somebody near me?" instead. Skills can be learnt; a problem nobody has cannot be sold.

🏦 Save

Saving toward a number

Now that you can count, your goal is a number, not a picture. Write the price at the top. Write what you've got at the bottom. The gap between them is how much further you have to go.

The same $12 goal, at three different weekly amounts.
  • Saving $1 a week12

    12 weeks — most six-year-olds quit around week 4

  • Saving $2 a week6

    6 weeks — about the limit of what feels real

  • Saving $4 a week3

    3 weeks — easy to picture, easy to finish

Bars are weeks, not dollars. The goal never changed — only how long you have to hold on to it.

Do this

Draw a thermometer with the goal price at the top. Colour it in each week as the total climbs.

Say this

"You've got $4 and it costs $10. How much more do you need? Right — six more."

A story

$12, and how far away that is

Rosa wanted a $12 model kit. She got $2 a week. She said $12 was impossible. Her dad drew six empty boxes on a piece of paper and wrote $2 in the first one. "Colour a box in every Saturday," he said. Six Saturdays later she had the kit and the paper was on the fridge for a year.

Did the $12 get smaller?

No — it turned into six Saturdays, and six Saturdays is a thing you can picture. A target you can't imagine is a target you quit.

The usual mistake

Naming the goal in dollars only. "$12" means very little at six; "six Saturdays" means something exact.

The fix

Always convert the goal into weeks. Then draw the weeks as boxes and let them colour one in each time.

🛒 Spend

Two prices, one choice

Almost everything you want to buy sits next to something similar with a different price. Look at both. Sometimes the cheaper one is exactly as good, and the money you don't spend stays yours.

Same $6, spent two ways.

The unicorn one

$6

One pencil case. Nothing left over.

✓ Better deal

Plain one + gel pens

$3 + $3

One pencil case, and something to put in it.

Neither answer is always right. What matters is that Ada worked out what the extra $3 was for before she handed it over.

Do this

In one shop aisle, find two versions of the same thing. Compare the prices and pick — then say why out loud.

Say this

"These two do the same job. One's $3 and one's $5. What are we getting for the extra $2?"

A story

Two pencil cases

Ada had $6 and found two pencil cases she liked. One was $6 with a unicorn on it. One was $3 and plain. She bought the plain one, and on the way out she spent the other $3 on a pack of gel pens to go in it. Her friend bought the unicorn one and had nothing to put in it.

Who got more for their $6?

Ada — but only because she checked what the extra $3 was buying her. Sometimes the expensive one is worth it. The mistake is not asking.

The usual mistake

Treating cheaper as automatically smarter. That flips into a different bad habit: buying rubbish that breaks and having to buy it twice.

The fix

Ask what the extra money is actually buying. Sometimes it is a picture on the front. Sometimes it is a zip that survives the year.

💝 Give

Giving what you actually have

Giving isn't only money. Time counts. Help counts. A child with no money at all can still be generous, and people remember the help more than the cash.

$4 arrives. Here is where it goes before Sami decides anything.
30%Save$1.2050%Spend$2.0010%Give40¢10%Grow40¢

Four jars, one action, no arguments. The splitting happens before the wanting starts.

Do this

Pick one way to give this week that costs nothing — helping a neighbour, tidying for someone, making something.

Say this

"You don't need money to be generous. What could you give that isn't money?"

A story

The dollar that was already spoken for

Sami got $4 for helping at his gran's. Before he even left the house he put 40¢ into the give tin by the door, because that is what the tin is for. Later that day he wanted a comic that cost $4 exactly, and he was short. He was annoyed for about a minute, and then he wasn't.

Did the give tin cost Sami the comic?

It cost him a week. He bought it the next Saturday. Giving is only painful when you count it as money you were about to spend — decide first and it never feels like a loss.

The usual mistake

Giving out of the spend jar in the moment. It turns generosity into a competition with whatever they wanted today, and generosity loses.

The fix

The give share comes out the second the money arrives, before anything is planned with it.

📈 Grow

Money in, money out

When you sell something, some money comes in. But some money went out first, to buy what you needed. What's left over is called profit — and profit is the only number that really matters.

Theo's lemonade day, written out properly.
  • 12 cups sold at 50¢$6.00
  • Lemons, sugar and cups$7.00
  • What Theo actually made−$1.00

Money in, money out, money left. Every business on earth is this three-line sum.

Do this

Pretend to sell 10 cups of lemonade at 50 cents. That's $5 in. The lemons and cups cost $2. How much is really yours?

Say this

"You made $5. But you spent $2 to make it. So did you really make $5?"

A story

The lemonade day that lost money

Theo and his sister sold twelve cups of lemonade at 50¢ and were delighted with their $6 — until their dad reminded them that the lemons, the sugar and the cups had cost $7. They had worked all afternoon and were a dollar worse off than when they started.

Were they bad at selling?

No, they were excellent at selling — twelve cups is twelve customers. They were bad at counting what it cost them. Money coming in is only half the sum.

The usual mistake

Celebrating the money that came in. Children — and plenty of adults — call the takings the profit and never subtract anything.

The fix

Always ask the second question: "and what did it cost you?" Write both numbers down before anyone cheers.

🧠 Mindset

Asking out loud

The scariest part of selling anything is opening your mouth. Most people never ask, so most people never get a yes. Asking is a skill, and it gets easier fast.

Nadia's six houses.
  • Said no4

    About 11 seconds each

  • Said not today1

    Worth asking again next week

  • Said yes1

    Paid $5

One yes out of six is a good day. You just have to be willing to collect the other five.

Do this

Practise the exact sentence they'll say to a customer. Say it five times until it stops feeling strange.

Say this

"Say it to me first. Now say it louder. Now say it like you already know they'll say yes."

A story

The question Nadia nearly didn't ask

Nadia wanted to wash cars on her street but was sure everybody would say no. She asked six houses. Four said no. One said not today. One said yes, and paid her $5. She told her mum afterwards that the four noes had taken about eleven seconds each.

What did the four noes actually cost her?

Under a minute of her life. That is the real price of being told no, and it is almost always much lower than the price we imagine before we ask.

The usual mistake

Asking once, getting a no, and concluding the idea was bad. One no is not information — it is one person on one day.

The fix

Set the target as the number of *asks*, not the number of yeses. Six houses is a finished job whatever the answers are.

The 1st Grade Money Check

8 questions. You get the reasoning either way — being wrong is where the learning is.

0/8
  1. 1

    Why does anyone buy anything?

  2. 2

    You have $4 and want something that costs $10. What's the gap?

  3. 3

    Two identical water bottles, $3 and $5. What should you check?

  4. 4

    Can you be generous with no money at all?

  5. 5

    You sell $6 of lemonade. Lemons and cups cost $2. What's your profit?

  6. 6

    A customer pays $1 for a 75-cent cup. What do you hand back?

  7. 7

    You're too shy to ask someone to buy. What's true?

  8. 8

    Nobody bought anything on your first day. What now?

What would you do?

Three situations a 1st grade child really does run into. There is no silly option here — every one of them is something a reasonable person would pick.

1

You sold 10 cups of lemonade for 50¢ each. The lemons and cups cost you $3. Your friend says you made $5.

2

You want to earn money and you can't think of anything you're especially good at.

3

You knocked on six doors offering to wash cars. Four people said no.

Work it out

0/4 checked

Real 1st grade money maths. Work it out first — the button shows how it was done, not just the answer.

  1. 1

    You get $2 a week. How many weeks to save $12?

  2. 2

    You sell 8 cups of lemonade at 50¢ each. How much is in the tin?

  3. 3

    Those 8 cups cost you $3 in lemons and cups. What did you actually make?

  4. 4

    You have $10. A book is $6 and a pen is $3. Can you buy both, and what's left?

The Four Jars

Move the sliders and watch what each jar becomes. Only the Grow jar is invested, so only Grow compounds — that is the whole reason the numbers separate.

$
40% · $0.80/week

$42 a year → $416 after 10 years

40% · $0.80/week

$42 a year → $416 after 10 years

10% · $0.20/week

$10 a year → $104 after 10 years

10% · $0.20/week

$10 a year → $154 after 10 years

Look ahead:

You put in

$1,040

You end up with

$1,090

Grew on its own

+$50

That extra $50 is money nobody worked for. It came from the Grow jar earning 7% a year on a balance that keeps getting bigger.

For parents: Around $2 a week. This is the first year a 'grow' jar makes sense — it becomes the float that funds their stand instead of you funding it.

The 7% is a rough long-run stock market average used for illustration. Real returns vary, some years are negative, and nothing here is investment advice.

The words they need this year

Defined the way a 1st grade child would explain them — not the way a bank would.

Profit
The money left over after you pay for what you needed.
Like: Sold $5 of lemonade, lemons cost $2 — profit is $3.
Cost
The money that goes out before you can sell anything.
Like: The cups, the lemons, and the sugar.
Customer
The person who gives you money for your thing.
Like: The neighbour who bought two cups.
Change
The money you hand back when they gave you too much.
Like: They pay $1 for a 75-cent cup, so change is 25 cents.
Total
All of it added together.
Like: Three quarters and two dimes: 95 cents total.
📜 This actually happened

The four-year-old who built a lemonade company

Mikaila Ulmer was stung by bees twice in one week when she was four. Instead of being scared of them, she got interested in them, and started selling lemonade made with her great-grandmother's recipe and honey instead of sugar, giving part of the money to groups that protect bees. Her lemonade ended up on the shelves of national supermarket chains.

She did not start with a good idea. She started with something that happened to her, and paid attention to it.

This week's mission

The Price Detective

They learn that the same thing costs different amounts in different places — the first real insight into value.

⏱️ 30 minutesPaper and pencilOne shop trip, or a supermarket website
  1. 1Pick one everyday item — a loaf of bread, a box of cereal, a pack of pencils.
  2. 2Find three different versions of it and write down each price.
  3. 3Circle the cheapest and the most expensive.
  4. 4Work out the difference between them.
  5. 5Decide which one you'd actually buy, and say the reason out loud. There is no wrong answer if there's a reason.
🚀 Starter business

The Lemonade Stand, done properly

"Cold drink, one dollar, right here where you're already walking."

What it costs to start

$4–6 for lemons, sugar, and cups

What to charge

$1 a cup. Round numbers mean no change to count and no maths mistakes under pressure.

  1. 1Write down every cost before you start. That number is what you have to earn back first.
  2. 2Pick the spot by where people already walk, not by where it's convenient for you.
  3. 3Make a sign big enough to read from across the road.
  4. 4Practise the sentence you'll say before the first person arrives.
  5. 5At the end: count everything, subtract the costs, and the number left is your profit.

The business lesson underneath

Location beats effort. The same stand in a busier spot earns several times more for identical work.

Four questions to ask this week

No printing, no materials, no lesson. Ask one at dinner and let the answer go wherever it goes — most of what children learn about money they overhear.

  • 1"What's one thing on our street that annoys people?" Then: could a six-year-old fix it?
  • 2"What did that cost us, and what did we get for it?" Ask about something you bought this week that didn't work out.
  • 3"How many weeks of your pocket money is that?" Ask it about anything they point at in a shop.
  • 4"When did you ask for something and get told no?" Then tell them about one of yours.

Three habits that matter at this age

The money lessons only stick if these are running underneath them.

Make them count the change

Every transaction is free arithmetic practice with real stakes. Hand the cashier's change to them and let them check it.

Rehearse the ask

Practise the exact words before the first customer arrives. Confidence at this age is almost entirely rehearsal, not personality.

Let the stand fail sometimes

A bad day at the stand is the cheapest business lesson they will ever get. Debrief it: what would you change next time?

By the end of 1st Grade

Tick these off through the year. If one is still open in June, that's the lesson to go back to.

  • Counts mixed coins up to $1 accurately
  • Works out the gap between what they have and what something costs
  • Compares two prices and gives a reason for their choice
  • Explains profit as money in minus money out
  • Runs a small stand start to finish, including counting costs
  • Asks a stranger to buy something without an adult doing it for them

Want the written practice too?

Everything on this page is free and always will be. If you want structured worksheets to go alongside it, the 1st Grade packs cover the whole year across maths, reading and writing, and study skills.

1st Grade Packs

← Younger

Kindergarten

Older →

2nd Grade

See all 12 grades

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a 1st Grade child understand about money?

You can add money up, and you can compare two prices before you choose. Concretely: counts mixed coins up to $1 accurately; works out the gap between what they have and what something costs; compares two prices and gives a reason for their choice. The six lessons on this page cover each of those, and the money check tells you which ones have landed.

How much allowance should a 1st Grade child get?

Around $2 a week is a reasonable starting point at ages 6–7. Around $2 a week. This is the first year a 'grow' jar makes sense — it becomes the float that funds their stand instead of you funding it. The calculator on this page lets you try different amounts and splits.

What business can a 1st Grade child actually run?

The Lemonade Stand, done properly: "Cold drink, one dollar, right here where you're already walking." Startup cost is $4–6 for lemons, sugar, and cups. Location beats effort. The same stand in a busier spot earns several times more for identical work.

What is the most common money mistake 1st Grade children make?

"What am I good at?" It is the wrong first question, and it stops most people before they start. Ask "what is annoying somebody near me?" instead. Skills can be learnt; a problem nobody has cannot be sold. Each of the six lessons on this page names the trap for its own pillar and the smallest change that fixes it.

Is the 1st Grade money content on this page free?

Yes — all 6 lessons and their pictures, the 8-question check, the 6 stories, the 3 decision cards, the 4 worked money sums, the questions to ask at dinner, the vocabulary, the mission, the starter business, the allowance calculator, and the milestones are free with no signup. The 1st Grade printable packs in the shop are optional.

Does this work for a child who cannot read yet?

Every lesson on this page has a picture as well as words, so a younger sibling can follow along. If your child is not reading independently yet, start at the Pre-K or Kindergarten page instead — those are built to be spoken and pointed at.

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