Shopping Math: Three Prices in Every Basket

Three prices go into every answer on this 2nd grade money worksheet. The shelf carries five fruits and their tags, a strawberry at 15¢, a pineapple at 20¢, a kiwi at 10¢, a mango at 25¢ and a banana at 45¢, and each of the three cards below shows a child taking three of them, drawn as pictures inside the sentence. Leo buys three, Emma takes three, Max buys three. The dot grid on each card is wide enough for the running total, and the answer goes in the dashed box with ¢ printed at its side.

A third addend changes the mathematics, not just the length of the sum. Two prices can be held in the head; three cannot, so the child has to write something down, and that is where strategy appears. Some will add left to right and carry a running total, some will look for a pair that makes fifty, some will collect the tens first and then the fives. All three work, and all three are worth naming aloud when they happen. The prices are chosen so that a friendly pair usually exists, which rewards the child who looks at all three numbers before starting.

Print the PDF free and ask for the three prices to be listed under one another on the dot grid before anything is added, which turns the story into a column the child can check. If the totals go wrong at the third number rather than the second, the add up the basket page steps back to two items with the same shelf format. The four questions page mixes these totals with change and comparison. Number walls practices the same adding in a shape with no shopping attached.