Counting Money: Skip Counting by Quarters

Scratch Garden

This animated music video features a cartoon dog on a rocket ship teaching students how to count by quarters (25 cents). Through a catchy folk-style song, the video visually and audibly demonstrates the pattern of skip counting by 25, linking abstract numbers to concrete monetary values. The narrative progresses from counting up to one dollar, then two dollars, and finally five dollars, reinforcing the repetitive nature of the number pattern. The key themes explored are money math, skip counting, and place value. Specifically, it focuses on the value of a quarter (25 cents), the relationship between quarters and dollars (4 quarters = $1.00), and the cyclical pattern of the numbers 25, 50, 75, and 00. The video uses a grid system to visually organize the coins, helping students see how four quarters group together to make a whole dollar. For educators, this video is an excellent tool for introducing or reinforcing money concepts and skip counting fluency. It addresses the common difficulty students face when moving from counting by 10s or 5s to the more complex interval of 25. The rhythmic nature of the song aids in memorization, making it suitable for math centers, warm-up activities, or as a fun transition tool during math blocks in early elementary classrooms.