🔎
Money Detective
Find the fairer choice in a short money puzzle.
🪙
Plan & Compare
Explore needs, wants, totals and trade-offs.
✏️
Print & Play
Use the worksheet below to practise your decisions.
Free printable challenge
The Secret of the Twelve Coins
Maya has twelve coins, each worth $1. She wants a notebook for $6, a gift card for $4 and a sticker for $3. She cannot buy all three today.
Your mission: Find two different things she could buy while spending no more than $12. How much money would be left each time? Which pair would you choose, and why?
Grown-up discussion prompt: Which choice is a need, a want or a gift? Can different families reasonably choose differently?