Duct Tape Wallets/Coin Purses

This year I taught grade 2 with one (yup ONE) grade 3. In May, I decided to start "Class Store" in order to cover our unit on money and to keep the kids engaged. In grade 2, kids need to know money amounts to 1 dollar, as well as the coins and their value. I have never done CS before, and was a little nervous...however, it was AWESOMESAUCE!

Before we could start Kelly-Mart (lol) we had to have something to store the coins in that the kids earned. Enter...duct tape coin purses (which I called wallets). My plan was to have each student make their own, but this turned into ME making them as they were a little trickier than I anticipated.

My PINspiration came from SOPHIE'S WORLD. She has outlined every step in pictures and easy to follow instructions. It is a fantabulous tutorial. Click the picture to go to the link:

I made a template of the wallet, as instructed, and taped the duct tape to both sides. I was going to use hot glue to stick the folded sides together, but decided to use half strips of duct tape instead.

I used velcro dots (from Dollarama) to close the top part of the coin purse. Super easy.

At first, I was going to have the kids make their own...this was not wise. The tape was waaaaay too sticky and frustration ensued. Instead, kids chose their own colours from an assortment of tape that I bought from Amazon. I made 20 wallets and used a fraction of my 8 rolls of duct tape. Honestly, 3 rolls would have been lots.

The kids LOVED these coin purses. They loved Class Store, too, (more on that tomorrow) but the purses were a huge hit. At the end of the year, they took them home. One boy even brought his dad into our classroom at the end of the day to show him his wallet...super cute.

I will make these again. They didn't take me too long (a couple of hours, TOPS). Older kids could make them on their own no problemo. Maybe next year we'll make the wallets with our Social Skills/Reading/Math Buddies in grade 5...

I 100% recommend and endorse making these if you have Class Store or a craft that you need to complete with your class. Here is a (blurry and terrible) picture of two of my students holding their wallets during Kelly-Mart shopping time.

I "starred" the coin purses cuz I am cool like that!