Count Money app review: practice counting money without a jar of change

Introduction

Count Money is an iPad and iPhone app designed to assist beginning mathematicians with basic money counting. This is a free app, and as such there are ads at the bottom, but the full version both eliminates this and comes with a quiz mode. I have used this app with my tutoring students from JK though to Grade 3.

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Why Download this App?

If you have a student who is struggling with counting money and you don’t have a jar of change sitting around, then Count Money is a great tool. When I was a kid, the teachers had plastic money kits, and when the plastic coins went missing, they’d photocopy coins on card stock and then cut them out. I remember having to cut out the coins. Well, as with any other activity, students love to use technology, and counting coins saves paper, scissors, and a lot of time!

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What I love about this app is that there is a simple + or – above and below each coin type. What I dislike is that it is in American currency only. As a Canadian, this leaves out Loonies and Toonies. I don’t mind that the faces are different, but students are missing coins. In the future, I’d like to see a Country selection for the paid version.

 

Fun Learning, Means More Retained

Count Money makes counting coins fun. You can either choose to have the total turned on for students to see how much money they have placed on the counting section. Or, for more of a challenge, you can turn this feature off so that your student has to keep track of their total or recount the coins.

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Additionally, in the free version you can select from two difficulties, and the full version allows you to do a quiz for even more of a challenge.

This is one of those apps that allows you to use manipulatives to learn, without having to have a huge store of supplies. I appreciate these apps, because it would mean a lot more storage needed! I still think that kids need to touch the money to truly appreciate counting money, handing it to the cashier, and so on. As I kid I was an office helper, and rolled the milk money. My hands-on experience with coins is really hands on.

 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Free Trial
• Clear coin illustration of the American currency
• Two difficulty levels in free, and two more plus quiz in full version
• Allows student to turn on total or leave it off for more of a challenge

Cons

• Only American currency, so for Canadians there are two coins missing

 

Final Thoughts

Count Money is an iPad and iPhone app for assisting with teaching students how to count money. This skill is going the way of the do-do as Interac and Credit Cards take over, but it is still a valuable skill for kids to learn.