How can you tell they’ve got it: What Money Is?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Explain that people use money to pay for things they need or want; Give an example of how buying worked before money existed (swapping or bartering); Name at least two forms money can take (coins, notes, card, phone payment). Or just try it together: If you asked your child why people use money instead of just swapping things, could they give you a sensible answer?

Life Skills Money & Finance Ages 5–7

What Money Is

Your child knows what money is for: we swap it for things and for help. They can tell the story from swapping goods, to coins, to paying by card or phone.

In curriculum terms

What money is and why we use it; that money is exchanged for goods and services; brief history from barter to coins to digital payments

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Explain that people use money to pay for things they need or want
Give an example of how buying worked before money existed (swapping or bartering)
Name at least two forms money can take (coins, notes, card, phone payment)

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

If you asked your child why people use money instead of just swapping things, could they give you a sensible answer?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

What Money Isthis skill · ages 5–7

Unlocks

Buying Thingsages 5–7Must understand money as exchange medium before practising transactions

Coins & Notesages 5–7Must understand what money is before learning to recognise specific coins and notes

Needs & Wantsages 5–7Must understand money exists and is limited before distinguishing needs from wants

Saving Moneyages 5–7Must understand what money is before learning to save it

Buyers & Sellersages 5–7Cross-domain: understanding what money is (Money & Finance) supports grasping exchange

Jobs People Doages 5–7Understanding money as exchange helps connect jobs to earning

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9M3M06low confidenceYear 3 · Measurement

recognise the relationships between dollars and cents and represent money values in different ways

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2M3N07low confidenceMathematics · Level 3 · Number strand

VC2M2N06low confidenceMathematics · Level 2 · Number strand

VC2M1N05low confidenceMathematics · Level 1 · Number strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Buying Thingsages 5–7 Coins & Notesages 5–7 Jobs People Doages 5–7 Looking After Moneyages 5–7

All Money & Finance skills →