I was pondering the subject of world currencies recently, and came up with a creative way for my little boys to learn about coins and paper money used in other countries.

A globalized version of playing STORE!

In a nutshell, you print play money from around the world and let kids go on a pretend global shopping spree! Before you begin this activity, pull out your globe, point to a few countries and introduce your child(ren) to the currencies used there.

Once you have printed out some play cash, they can set up shops to buy and sell anything from their own crafts and artwork to play multicultural foods and candy. Children can take turns being the store keeper and choosing the country. Don’t forget to have them place “price tags” (Post-its) on each item so that they can add up the total. Depending on how particular you or your older children want to get, the little ones may need a bit more assistance with the mathematics, exchange rates and such. You can keep it simple for the younger ones by letting them purchase one thing at a time.

Learning how to count, use and identify coins and paper money is an important basic skill to learn at an early age.