Count and pay with US coins, make change from a dollar, read analog clocks, work out how long something lasts and what day comes next. Six levels, a daily set and printable worksheets.
This game practises the two number skills a child meets outside the classroom first: money and time. Coins are drawn as labelled circles in US coins only, 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents and 25 cents, sized roughly like the real ones. There are no coin pictures: each circle shows its value and its name, such as 25c quarter, and the spoken prompt says each coin name and what it is worth, so a child who has never held a US coin can still play, and a child from another country can still practise the arithmetic. Clocks are drawn with a short thick hour hand and a long thin minute hand, and the hour hand sits between the numbers as the minutes pass, the way a real clock does. A week strip shows Monday to Sunday for the day puzzles. The skills are adding coin values, skip counting by 5s and 10s, subtracting from 100, reading o'clock, half past, quarter past and five-minute times, finding how long something lasts, and counting days around the week. The game counts toward the skill we call money and time, in the life-skills group.
Each level mixes a few kinds of puzzle, so a child practises coins, clocks and days together. Level 1 counts three to five coins worth 1, 5 or 10 cents, reads o'clock times, and asks what day is tomorrow or was yesterday. Level 2 asks which purse holds exactly 12 to 35 cents, reads o'clock and half past, picks the clock that shows a time, and moves 2 or 3 days. Level 3 asks which pile pays 26 to 95 cents with the fewest coins, now with quarters, adds quarter past and quarter to, and moves 4 to 6 days. Level 4 gives change from 1 dollar, from two quarters, or after two prices that are multiples of 5 cents, reads times to the nearest 5 minutes, asks how long from a start clock to an end clock without passing 12, and moves 8 to 10 days. Level 5 asks which 3 coins make a sum, asks how many different ways a sum can be paid with nickels and dimes, finds how long something lasts across 12 o'clock, and moves 11 to 20 days. Level 6 asks which 4 or 5 coins fit a sum and a clue, counts the ways to pay a sum with nickels, dimes and quarters, finds end or start times from a duration of 1 hour 5 minutes up to 3 hours 55 minutes, and runs the day riddles backward, such as 11 days ago it was Saturday, so what day is it today.
Everything is computed, never typed in by hand. Totals, change, how long and the day of the week come from arithmetic in the code, and the clock pictures are drawn from the hour and the minute. The tricky puzzles are proved. For fewest coins, the code works out the true minimum number of coins by dynamic programming, a method that builds the answer for 1 cent, then 2 cents and so on, and keeps a puzzle only when exactly one pile uses that minimum number while every other pile has the same total in more coins. For the which-coins puzzles it tries every set of 3, 4 or 5 coins and asks only when exactly one set fits. For example, 4 coins make 40 cents has two answers, four dimes or one quarter and three nickels, so it is only asked with the clue that at least one is a quarter. There are 40 such asks for 3 coins and 76 for 4 or 5 coins. Wrong clock readings are built from likely slips: the two hands swapped, an hour off and a minute slip. Tests check 500 puzzles at every level against separate code that reads the answer back from the drawing.
The game moves up a level after 3 right answers in a row and down after 2 wrong answers in a row, and you or your child can pick a level yourselves. A wrong answer gets a gentle Try again, never a buzzer. Each day there is a set of 5 puzzles, the same for everyone with the same date on their device. To print, choose a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4. The clocks and coins print in black and white, and the last page is the answer key with one short reason per puzzle. Stars and progress are saved in this browser only. This game uses a 12-hour clock without morning or afternoon, so it says how long something lasts across 12 o'clock rather than naming am or pm. It does not teach other currencies, dollar bills beyond the one dollar, dates on a calendar, or digital time to the minute, and it does not replace handling real coins.
US coins only: 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents and 25 cents, shown as circles with the amount written on them. They are sized roughly like the real coins, but they are plain drawings, not pictures of real coins.
Level 1 is meant for a 6 year old on the first day: counting a few coins and reading o'clock. Levels 5 and 6 are hard for a 7 or 8 year old. The levels adjust on their own, so a younger or older child settles at a comfortable one within about 10 puzzles.
No. The fewest-coins piles are checked against the true minimum and only one pile reaches it. The which-coins puzzles are asked only when exactly one set of coins fits, and clocks, change and days are computed. Tests try 500 puzzles at each level.
The clock face shows 12 hours, so the game says how long something lasts and which time comes later that day, such as from 11:30 to 12:45, instead of naming am or pm. Times are always less than 12 hours apart.
The short thick hand is the hour hand and the long thin hand is the minute hand. They also print as different widths in black and white. At half past, the short hand sits halfway between two numbers.
One dollar is 100 cents. The puzzle says so each time, for example you pay with 1 dollar, which is 100 cents. Some puzzles use two quarters, which is 50 cents.
Yes. Pick a level, 4, 6 or 8 puzzles and Letter or A4. Coins and clocks print in black and white, and the last page is the answer key with a short reason for each puzzle.
No. Stars, levels and streaks are saved in this browser on this device. The page counts visits with Google Analytics, never answers or scores.