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How To Make Wooden Play Money For Kids

Clara really seems to be into the concept of money lately. Not so much for using it to pay bills, but using it to count, stack, and stash in her pockets/purse. I’ve been digging up quarters and handing them over left and right (she’s thankfully well past the putting-things-in-her-mouth stage) but they always get lost. So I have one question: is there a vortex in our house that eats socks and loose change? Is Burger secretly saving up to buy a jar of peanut butter? Seriously, it’s a mystery.

So instead of being fifteen bucks down after a few weeks of play, I figured I might as well attempt a little DIY alternative. Ok, and I really just wanted to play with metallic markers.

kids play money coins

I figured something that wasn’t as heavy as actual change probably wouldn’t roll under the sofa or sink into the cracks of the couch cushions as easily (which are two random guesses about where all the real change is now living). Plus the girl loves her play kitchen and her dollhouse, so I thought pretend money might also be a hit. So I decided to hit up the craft store for some small wooden pog-shaped rounds (remember Pogs? anyone?).

Money 1

I thought they’d make for a sweet birthday gift for Will Bower too, so I grabbed two of the smaller nickel/dime sized sets (each bag was $1) and one of the large ones with 22 quarter sized discs. I already had two metallic permanent markers (one in a bronze penny color and one in a silvery tone) but if you don’t have them you can grab those at the craft store too. Total spent after using my 40% off coupon = $4.50, which breaks down to about $2.25 per set (there are 18 in each set).

Money4

Then I just sketched on each of the wooden disks to create pennies (with 1¢ written in the middle and a bunch of coin-like lines around the edge), nickels (with 5¢ written in the middle with a solid silver band around the outside), quarters (with 25¢ written in the middle and more coin-like lines around the edge), and silver dollars (with $1 written in the middle and a thick solid edge around the outside). Boom, done.

The best part is that we got to send Will a fun little homemade birthday present (along with a few other store bought goodies). We even got him a cool orange case for loot-stashing. And we’ve already heard from Katie that he likes it. Wahoo!

Money5

This whole project probably took me an hour, and I gotta say, it was more fun than I should be having with a magic marker. Thankfully I’m not the only one having fun with ’em. Clara’s been playing with them a lot – and miraculously we only lost one nickel, which we later found (so it’s official: real change gets stolen by fairies when we sleep and nobody cares enough to snatch up the fake loot).

Money Clara1

Have you guys been feeling crafty? Is there a vortex in your house that eats loose change and socks? Or do you have change-hungry fairies that have no interest in a wooden nickel or four? We totally do.

Comments

  2. Nikki says

    We have that same vortex! I see some nieces and nephews getting play money for birthdays! And, yes, pogs!! That would be some fun play money!

    Reply

  3. Kala M. says

    Super cute! I think my husband and I both still have some of our pogs and even the slammers somewhere. I never actually played pogs I just collected the ones with cute pictures on them. :)

    Reply

    • Young House Life says

      Haha! I think I had one with the Simpsons on it, and John had one that was rubbery and smelled like bananas. Haha!

      xo
      s

  13. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    Awesome idea!

    I saw those when I was wandering through Michael’s looking for ways to tweak a thrift store puzzle.

    Lately I’ve been going into stores with the thought “be open to possibilities” instead of “well, that’s not a finished product.” As a result I found the perfect thing very near those disks to make the puzzle workable for our daughter!

    Reply

  14. Ashley says

    Word of caution: I decided to eat a quarter when I was in 1st grade! Luckily, I didn’t choke on it, but I did have to have surgery to get it out! So things like that do happen, even with older kids! But this is great, I know my younger sister (7!) loves her “monies” and this is such a smart alternative to real change!

    Reply

  16. Whitney Dupuis says

    Such a great idea! My son loves to get “monies” also, so I may have to look into doing this for him.

    Reply

  17. Whitney says

    Oh Pogs, who could forget? It’s safe to say I miss the 90’s-especially Lisa Frank and Trapper Keepers (not that my mom would spend the money on them, but I still miss them!)
    Love the project-great idea!

    Reply

  18. Char says

    I will have to remember this for future kiddos! When things go missing over here, we blame “gnomes”. We have cell phone gnomes, laundry gnomes, car key gnomes… You name it!

    Reply

  19. Kimberly @ Turning It Home says

    I love this idea, thanks for sharing! My daughter always finds pennies and hands them too me, luckily she doesn’t hide in a closet and swallow one like I did when I was her age.

    And speaking of pogs, my husband still has his stashed away. He’s hoping to bring them back by passing them on to our son… we shall see if sticks.

    Reply

  21. Katie says

    If you figure out the vortex thing, write a post about it! We consider baby and toddler socks and pacifiers to be single use in our house. Seriously, where do they go?

    Reply

    • Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

      Katie,

      I cannot help with the vortex thing, but my mother-in-law and I are DIYing special a race outfit for my daughter in 2 weeks that will help with the pacifier part.

      Maybe I’ll ask her about the socks, and see what we can create!

    • Sarah says

      That’s funny, because our vortex spewed out an iPod touch. No idea where it’s from haha!

    • Lesley says

      Maybe THAT’S the answer – the Vortex just relocates things from house to house. It would explain A LOT!!!

      I have a friend originally from Detroit, and they always said things ended up in Cleveland… including when you flushed the toilet – bit of a town to town rivalry there I think.

  27. Heather from KC says

    Thanks for the idea!! My son is 8 yrs old (2nd grade) they are learning about counting money and giving back change. This will be our project this weekend!!!

    Reply

  28. Adeline says

    I definitely have a vortex following me in every house I’ve lived in that eats socks!
    Once again, a great crafty project for Clara. Now that she has change, she could turn her play kitchen into a play restaurant when she feels like it. (yep, I’m still 3 at heart and imagine how I would play…)

    Reply

  30. Cassi says

    When my 2 year old saw me looking at this I told her it was Clara’s play money. She asked if we could go on an airplane to play with Clara and her play money… So I guess I need to make some.

    Reply

  32. Emily says

    So this is slightly off topic, but I was teaching second grade several years ago and we ran out of play money, so I took some coins out of my purse. Later that evening I had to stop at the post office to mail some stuff, and when I plopped my change on the counter the lady was all, “Umm, you need to use real money here.”

    In my haste at the end of the lesson, some fake coins had gotten mixed in with the real ones.

    I died a little.

    Reply

    • Young House Life says

      LOL. That’s awesome. I love the mental picture of the lady at the post office saying that.

      -John

  33. Stephanie B. says

    We’re two adults living in our house (with no kiddos yet) and I sometimes wonder where our spare change goes. Now I totally know! Beacon, my 2-year old Goldendoodle, is storing up to buy a jar of peanut butter. Sneaky little guy! He and Burger and all dogs everywhere have probably been scheming together!

    Reply

  34. Lisa says

    SUCH a great idea! My 2 1/2 year old is also obsessed with money. He got a bunch of loose change from an Easter egg hunt at my parents’ house and he was excited to put it all in his piggy banks, but he still like to carry coins around in a little wallet and count them to play store. I will definitely be stealing this idea so we don’t have to lose all of our change!
    I should mention that his favorite thing to do with money is play cash register at my parents’ house. My grandfather was a barber and my Mom still has his old-fashioned register. She and he play “barbershop” where they pretend that people come in and pay for their haircuts. The register dings loudly each time the drawer opens. He also likes to get a pretend shave with my Grandfather’s old shaving cream brush! It’s adorable.

    Reply

  35. agus says

    what a great idea!!!! two weeks ago I was at the crafts store looking for some acrylic paints and saw some of these and wondered what could I use them for!!!! and voila!!! my kids will be ver happy!!! :) thanksssss!

    Reply

  36. Lisa L. says

    This is such an awesome idea! I’m a nanny, and so I’m totally going to do this for my little kiddo! Some of the pictures make it look the pogs are white! Did you paint them also?

    Reply

    • Young House Life says

      After staring at the photos I think when the camera is looking down on them from above (like when they’re in the packages, and when Clara’s playing with them in the bottom pic) they look wood-toned, but from more of a side view they reflect and look lighter. So funny!

      xo
      s

  37. kelly says

    I was just looking at those cute little coin purses at Michaels. They had really fun necklaces and girly things in bold, bright colors!

    Reply

    • Lesley says

      Sort of, they are not removing them from circulation but they are not minting new ones, the old ones will still follow the same retirement cycle as before and be pulled when they are damaged.

      It is like when we discontinued the $1 and $2 bills in favour of coins (Loonies and Toonies), people are keeping a few. I am currently trying to find one in each of our family members’ birth years to keep.

  40. Elizabeth says

    OMG – POGS!!! We had WAY too many of those things.

    Love this idea. We give our 2.5 year old son coins for exceptional behavior (above and beyond type stuff) and he has 3 piggy banks he chooses between to put them in. Of course, he always goes for the ugly plastic one from the bank instead of one of the super cute gifted ones. Oh well. Whatever makes a kid happy, eh?

    Think of the things you can buy when you discover that vortex they’ve been going into. Maybe something off the $1 menu!

    Reply

  41. Sarah says

    My hair ties constantly disappear, but it’s because my youngest kitty steals them to play with and/or eat!

    Reply

  42. Liz S. says

    Speaking of Burger, I had a dream with him in it last night. For some reason I got in trouble with the cops (or something like them, you know dreams) and they were more lenient because Burger was cute, haha

    Reply

  43. Julie says

    So fun story. When I was in college for graphic design, I walked into my professor’s office and saw a big poster of not cut out pogs, like a template I guess. I asked him why he would have pogs on his wall and he said he was a designer for them. I think I probably yelled at him, YOU DESIGNED POGS!!!! It was awesome. lol

    Reply

  45. Avone says

    I feel like I’m about as DIY as they come (we’ve re-done 6 houses in 8 years and haven’t paid for a haircut in over a decade), but I’m impressed. There is no way I would take the time to paint and write on wooden circles when you can purchase a pack of fake coins for a buck.:) Kudos to you!

    Reply

    • Young House Life says

      Thanks Avone! Although I didn’t paint them. Just sat on the sofa and doodled with markers (they’re still the wood grain finish, which is easier to see in that last shot of Clara playing with them).

      xo
      s

  46. Kirsten says

    Awesome idea… So going to make them for at least 10 of my 15 nieces & nephews, for birthday’s this year.

    Reply

  47. Charlotta says

    That probably means you haven’t got any mice… One winter we had a family of mice in the cleaning/pump cupboard in our summer house. They’d built themselves a cosy nest of dried leaves in there. Imagine the surprise my dad felt when he removed the nest and found monopoly money in it! (The mice also ate all the cat food.)

    Reply

  48. Jen in Jersey (soon to be Texas!) says

    Love the idea! I’ve been looking for a reason to pick up one of those chunky coin purses.

    My OCD is kicking in though – pennies and nickels are smooth on the edges, dimes and quarters are reeded (notched). This used to be to keep precious metal (silver) coins from being clipped (shaved). These days the reeding is kept because it helps the visually impaired to distinguish between similarly sized coins.

    I realize of course that this level of detail is completely unnecessary in children’s play money, and has no affect on the cuteness either, it just makes me itch. :D

    Reply

  49. Liz says

    I think our vortex swallows pacifiers. Seriously, I have to buy news ones every week. Where in the world do they go!?! And we NEVER find the ones we’be lost. Maybe the baby just swallows them up :)

    Susper cute idea! I’m definitely going to be stealing that one!

    Reply

  50. Erin H. says

    My husband definitely found two pogs in our couch last week. I thought we were relatively tidy people, but neither of us has touched a pog in at least 15 years. Yikes. Maybe it is time for a new couch…

    Reply

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