Math Skills Your Child Can Learn from the Game Monopoly
Do you love playing Monopoly with your kids? Not only is Monopoly a fun game, it’s also a great tool you can use to teach your kids important math skills. Your child will use these math skills as they go through school and in the real world after they graduate.
The Disney version of Monopoly has become a family favorite, playing about once a week. It has been enlightening to see which of my children have stronger math skills than the other – and it was not determined by age!
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Counting Money
One of the most important math skills your kids will learn from the game Monopoly includes learning how to count money. Although you might think this is an easy skill, it can actually be quite difficult for young kids to learn. This is especially true when your child is required to count a combination of different dollar bills, such as hundreds, tens, and ones. No matter how difficult this skill can be, there will be many benefits after your child successfully learns how to count money.
The game offers many opportunities to count money in various quantities. Your child will count out money when purchasing property, paying taxes and when paying other players after they land on their property. Occasionally you will land on a game card slot and those cards may make you pay or collect money.
Make Change
Making change is another important math skill that your child can learn from Monopoly. In order to allow your child to practice this skill, you’ll want them to be the banker. Each time a person makes a purchase or pays the bank, your child will be required to hand back any change from the transaction. This teaches your child how to subtract money in order to discover how much change is needed. Even if they are not yet prepared to move up as the banker, they will practice the skill of making change when people pay them rent upon landing on their properties.
Dollar Value
Another math skill you can teach your kids while playing Monopoly is the value of a dollar. Oftentimes, kids don’t realize how much something is worth simply because they aren’t required to hand over their hard earned money to purchase it. In Monopoly, different properties have different values. The more desirable properties cost more, which can quickly drain your Monopoly savings. When playing the game, your kids will need to decide if the property is worth the investment, weighing such things as how much the property costs versus the expected return on it. This ties in a strategy lesson as well.
Although the Disney version of Monopoly uses paper wishes instead of dollars – the concept is still the same.
Not only is Monopoly a great game to spend some quality time with your family, it also presents you with the perfect opportunity to teach your kids different math skills. Our games usually take us about three hours to complete yet the kids are always begging to play again.
The current lesson my children have been working on is trading and bargaining. They create their own deals within the game among other players.
Does your family play Monopoly? If so which version and which game piece is their favorite?
Mine is Cinderella’s carriage!