Resource
Make One Dollar – Coin Combination Challenge
Combine Australian coin values in several valid ways to make exactly one dollar. Free one-page A4 activity with educator guidance and checked answers.
Print, solve and discuss
Preview the complete activity page
Download one-page A4 worksheetCheck the preview, printing notes and licence before use.
A practical Australian money skills activity
Combine Australian coin values in several valid ways to make exactly one dollar. The printable gives children a specific task, visible response space and enough information to begin without a long educator explanation.
What children do
Complete the examples, then draw or write three different coin combinations that total exactly $1.
Prepare and facilitate
Materials: Printed worksheet, pencil and optional colouring tools. Allow about two minutes to print and place the page. The activity usually takes 25 minutes.
Offer labelled paper coin tokens and a $1 target mat; children can move tokens instead of writing.
Keep examples fictional. Do not ask children to share household income, access to money, political preferences, addresses or family voting choices.
Answer guide
- 50c + 50c = $1
- 50c + 20c + 20c + 10c = $1
- 20c + 20c + 20c + 20c + 20c = $1
- $1 = $1
Adapt participation
Simpler way to join: Read the task aloud, complete one example together and allow pointing, moving tokens or dictating instead of writing.
More challenge: Find a valid combination using the greatest number of coins, then one using the fewest.
Learning opportunities
Look for financial vocabulary, calculation, choice-making and explaining a strategy. Ask a child to show a match, calculation, sequence or reason; completion alone is not evidence of understanding.
Useful educator prompts
- What information on the page helps you begin?
- How could you check that match, total or sequence?
- Which part is a fact, and which part is a choice or opinion?
Fact-check sources
Printing notes
Print at actual size on A4 paper. The worksheet is ink-friendly and uses simplified diagrams rather than reproductions of banknotes, coins, official ballot papers or government artwork.
