2nd grade making change worksheets

The kind of problems you'll get

Every print pulls a fresh set of problems at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.

What's on each sheet

• Fluency. Find the change. 10 questions per page.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Skip the column subtraction and teach the cashier's move: start at the cost and count coins up to what was paid. Say it with real coins the first few times (63, 65, 75, a quarter makes a dollar) and let your child stack the coins as they count, then total the stack. It sidesteps the borrowing-across-zeros subtraction that trips kids up at this age.

Watch for: Kids take the cost from 100 no matter what was paid, so a $5 bill gets the same change as a dollar. The count-up has to land on the amount actually handed over. Kids drop the last cents digit and write $1.5 instead of $1.50. Money always gets two places after the decimal point, even when the last one is a zero.

Common questions about making change

What do the problems look like?

Each one prints a cost and the money paid, like Cost: 63¢, Paid: $1.00, with a line for the change. Prices stay in cents and the paid amount is coin-friendly, so answers come out like 37¢.

Why count up instead of subtracting?

Counting up is how cashiers hand back change, and it matches how second graders think about money: coins to the next friendly number, then up to the dollar. Column subtraction across zeros comes later; this skill doesn't need it.

Related worksheets

• 3rd grade making change A step harder, same skill
• 2nd grade measuring length Same grade, nearby skill
• 2nd grade telling time Same grade, nearby skill
• Making change, all grades The full progression
• All 2nd grade math worksheets Every skill at this level
• All 2nd grade worksheets Everything at this level