Check Out

The check out counter is where we commonly think about math in the grocery store. It's where the total is added up, the money is exchanged, and the change is returned.

What you'll need

All the items you intend to buy

What to do


1. Have your child estimate the total.

2. Ask, if I have 10 one-dollar bills, how many will I have to hand over at the checkout? What if I have a 20-dollar bill? a 10 dollar bill ? How much change should I receive? What coins will I get?

3. Count the change with your child to make sure the change is correct.

One way to make estimating totals easy is to assign an average price to each item. If the average price for each item is 25 cents and if you have 10 items, the estimate would be about 2.50