Coin Shop: pay the exact amount

Audience: KS1-KS2 pupils (Y1-Y5)
Key Stage: KS1-KS2
Rounds: 12
Time: 10 min
Topic: Coins and change
Last reviewed: 2026-07-22

How to play

You're the customer in a little shop. Tap coins to pay for each item — get the total exactly right, no more, no less. Tap a coin in your pile to put it back. Later rounds flip it round: you're the shopkeeper and have to give the right change. Best played with a grown-up if you're in Year 1.

JavaScript needed. The Coin Shop game needs JavaScript. For a paper version, enable JS and press "Print the paper version" — it has coin-drawing challenges with answers.

For teachers: use this in class

Learning objectives: combine coins to make a given amount (KS1 Maths — Measurement: money); calculate change by counting on (KS2).
10-minute starter: play rounds 1-3 on the whiteboard as a class, with pupils voting on which coin to add next. Ask "could we have used fewer coins?" after each round.
Differentiation: support — allow the printed coin mat alongside; stretch — after each round, challenge pupils to find every combination under 6 coins.
Discussion questions: Why do shops price things at 99p? Which coins would disappear if everything cost a multiple of 10p? Why does giving change mean counting up?
Curriculum: England Maths NC Y1-Y4 (money); PSHE Association economic wellbeing (KS1-2). See the curriculum map.

Pairs with: KS2 lesson — Making change and the making-change quiz as an exit ticket.

Cite this quiz
UK Tax Drag (2026). Coin Shop: pay the exact amount. Game. Available at: https://kids.uktaxdrag.co.uk/game-coin-shop.html
CC BY 4.0. Free to use as exit tickets, retrieval practice, homework or self-assessment.

Game tips. Tap or click coins to add them; tap a coin on the counter to take it back. Everything works with a keyboard: Tab between coins, Enter to add. Print the paper version gives coin-drawing challenges with answers for offline play.