Moneyville
Money isn't just about dollars and cents. The ancient Aztecs used chocolate for money, and Yap Islanders used 500-lb. stones! So what is money and how does it work? Now families, adults, and children can explore the history, science, math, and economics behind money in Moneyville. This new, highly interactive traveling exhibition uses the familiar and fascinating subject of money to build math skills and promote economic literacy in a fun, immersive urban environment. Visitors enter the vibrant "city" of Moneyville and embark on an exciting hands-on tour through a money factory, anti-counterfeiting lab, bank, shopping district, stock market, and an international shipping dock. Train to become a special agent, design your own money, test your skills as an investor, or make a million!
Money Factory
Examine hands-on examples of things used as money in the past, make your own money, and discover security measures used in U.S. currency as you work with high-tech tools to distinguish real money from counterfeit.
The Bank
Examine the math behind money and learn how compound interest can really add up, or examine a see-through safe to discover what a million dollars looks like! At the Kids Bank, younger visitors learn to identify coins, recognize their values, and pretend to save, borrow, or lend money.
To Market, To Market
Gain an understanding of markets, prices, supply, and demand. Run a "lemonade stand" and see how long you can stay in business and test your skills as an investor in the stock market. In the Kids Market, younger children can sort, count, group, weigh, and "buy" market goods using play money, cash registers, and produce scales.
Dollars and Sense
Discover strategies for making sound economic decisions in the context of everyday life utilizing such math skills and concepts as estimation, calculation, and problem solving. Explore money management, learn the real cost of credit, make your own financial choices, and balance a household budget.
Global Trade
Explore the interdependence of international trade and markets, and how wealth is distributed around the world. View a display of families and their possessions from around the world, and guess the mystery imports inside shipping crates.
For more information on this exhibit along with online activities and resources, please visit the Moneyville website by following this link.
