Free printable US coins chart
Grades K–4Every US coin with its name, its value and the feature that gives it away. Print it for the wall, or test yourself on the coins below — the values are not what the sizes suggest.
Tap the chart to open it at full size
What is each coin worth?
Pick the value of each coin and the reason appears underneath. Get through all six and the score tells you which ones need another look.
The dime is the one to dwell on. It is the smallest coin of the whole set and worth more than the nickel, which is bigger and thicker. Children reasonably assume bigger means more, and coins are the first place that assumption fails them.
That is the whole difficulty of money at this age. Every other counting task a child has met works by size or by ones. Coin values have to be known before a handful can be counted at all.
- Penny
- Nickel
- Dime
- Quarter
- Half dollar
- Dollar coin
- How you are doing
- 0 of 6
Size does not follow value — a dime is the smallest coin and worth more than a nickel.
How to use this US coins chart at home
Use real coins next to it. Money is the one topic where the manipulative is already in the house, and a photograph of a quarter is a much weaker teacher than a quarter.
Sort before counting, every time. Quarters in one pile, dimes in another. The sorting habit is most of what makes counting mixed change possible, and habits need repeating rather than explaining.
Let them pay in a shop and check the change. Real amounts, a real reason to get it right, and a queue behind them — which concentrates the mind more than any worksheet.
Why coin values have to be memorized
Nothing about a coin tells you what it is worth. The dime is smallest and beats the nickel. The names give nothing away either — penny, nickel, dime and quarter contain no numbers.
Only quarter helps, and only for a child who already knows fractions. So unlike almost everything else in early math, this genuinely is a memorizing job before it can become a counting job.
Saying that out loud helps. A child who thinks they should be able to work coins out by looking will keep trying and keep failing.
Telling them apart without looking at the number
Color first: the penny is the only copper one, so it is out of the way immediately.
Then size: the dime is the smallest of the silver-colored coins, and the half dollar is much the largest. That leaves the nickel and quarter, which differ clearly in size.
Then the edge: dimes and quarters are ridged, pennies and nickels smooth. The ridges were originally there to stop people shaving silver off the valuable coins, which is a fact children enjoy.
Where coins usually go wrong
Counting coins as ones. Six coins on the table, so six. Every child starts here and it resolves once values are known.
Assuming bigger is worth more. The dime disproves it, and it is the single most common coin error.
Counting in a random order, then losing track of the running total.
Mixing the signs when writing the answer. It is 75¢ or $0.75, never $75¢.
After the chart goes up
A chart explains the idea but gives a child nothing to do. These do the rest.
- measurement at Mathify Kids — every topic in this area, sorted by grade.
- money worksheets — printable practice.
- comparing numbers worksheets — the next step once this is solid.
- add subtract decimals worksheets — more practice in the same area.
Everything at this level: Kindergarten math · Grade 1 math · Grade 2 math · Grade 3 math · Grade 4 math
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Questions parents ask
What are the US coins and their values?
A penny is 1 cent, a nickel is 5, a dime is 10, a quarter is 25 and a half dollar is 50. There is also a dollar coin worth 100 cents. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are the four seen in everyday change.
Why is a dime smaller than a nickel?
History rather than logic. Dimes were once made of silver, which was worth more per gram than the nickel's metal, so less of it was needed. Knowing this helps, because it tells a child the sizes are not a puzzle they were meant to solve.
How can you tell coins apart?
By color, size and edge. The penny is the only copper-colored one. The dime is the smallest. Dimes and quarters have ridged edges; pennies and nickels are smooth. Feeling the edge works even without looking.
How many of each coin make a dollar?
One hundred pennies, twenty nickels, ten dimes, four quarters or two half dollars. The quarter is the easiest to remember — a quarter of a dollar, four to make the whole.
What order should coins be counted in?
Largest value first: quarters, then dimes, then nickels, then pennies. Counting in the order they happen to be lying means keeping a messy running total, and children lose the thread halfway.
What grade is this US coins chart for?
Kindergarten through Grade 4. Naming coins comes first, then knowing their values, then counting like coins, then mixed handfuls and change by Grade 3 or 4.
Is this US coins chart free to print?
Yes. Open it full size and print as many copies as you need for home or a classroom, with no account and no watermark. Reselling it or re-hosting the file elsewhere is not allowed — link to this page instead.