problem solving with money year 4

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Year 4 Money Challenges Solving Money Problems

Welcome to our Year 4 Money Challenges page. Here you will find our selection of printable money problem worksheets to help your child learn to use their money skills to solve a range of problems.

These challenges are a great resource as an extension for more able pupils, or to consolidate and extend learning.

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Year 3 Money Learning

Knowing how to handle and calculate with money is a very important life-skill.

During Year 3, children build on their knowledge and skills they have achieved during Year 2.

By the time children reach the end of Year 3, they should be able to:-

• use decimal notation for amounts of money, e.g. £3.27
• change amounts in £ to amounts in pence and back;
• count money up to £10;
• calculate change for amounts of money up to £1 mentally;
• solve simple problems involving money;
• use informal methods to add and subtract money amounts in £ and pence.

Our worksheets will support your child with these objectives.

Year 4 Money Challenges Information

The following worksheets involve solving challenges involving money amounts. They are a great way to consolidate and extend money learning once children are confident with counting money amounts.

The challenges start off at a fairly easy level with problems that involve lower value coins and smaller money amounts. The challenges later on involve more complex problems with larger values to calculate.

If you are teaching a class or group of children, then these sheets should give you some great differentiated learning activities with a money theme.

An answer sheet is available for each challenge provided.

The money challenges in each section are carefully graded, allowing you to introduce concepts at an easier level before introducing harder work, or differentiate within your class.

Using the sheets in this section will help your child to:

• count money in coins;
• develop their reasoning and thinking skills;
• solve problems involving money.

All the money worksheets in this section will help your child to become more confident with money, and develop better problem solving skills.

These problems and challenges build on our Year 3 Money Challenges .

Year 4 Money Challenges Worksheets

There are 3 challenges - Tyger's Money Square Challenge, Row of Coins Challenge and How Much Money Challenge.

Each main challenge has several versions which start with the easiest level and progress onto harder levels of challenge.

Row of Coins Challenges

• Row of Coins Challenge 4:1
• PDF version
• Row of Coins Challenge 4:2

Tyger's Money Square Challenges

• Tyger's Money Square Challenge 4:1
• Tyger's Money Square Challenge 4:2
• Tyger's Money Square Challenge 4:3

How Much Money Challenges

• How Much Money Challenge 4:1
• How Much Money Challenge 4:2

Match the Coins

• Match the Coins 4:1
• Match the Coins 4:2

Extension Activity Ideas

If you are looking for a way to extend learning with the How Much Money challenge, why not...

Try playing 'How Much Money' in pairs.

One person chooses 2 or 3 coins and the other person has to ask questions which involve 'yes' or 'no' answers.

To make the game more interesting, have a maximum of 5 questions before you make a guess!

Looking for some more UK money worksheets?

We also have some counting money worksheets with amounts up to £1 or £5.

The sheets are at a more basic level than those on this page.

• Free UK Money Worksheets Coins up to £1
• Year 3 Money Worksheets Coins up to £5
• Year 3 Money Challenges

More Recommended Math Worksheets

Take a look at some more of our worksheets similar to these.

Money Riddles

These puzzles are a great money starter activity to get children thinking and puzzling out which the correct answer is out of a set number of choices. They are great for partner work too.

UK Money Riddles

If you are looking for some fun learning puzzles involving money, then look no further.

The puzzle sheets in this section are designed primarily for children in Years 3 and 4 who need to develop their problem solving skills and mathematical language.

Using these challenges will help your child to:

• apply their existing skills to puzzle out clues;
• understand money terminology;
• develop their thinking skills.
• Money Riddles for Kids (UK coins)

Money Column Addition Worksheets

Here you will find a selection of Column Addition Money sheets designed to help your child add different amounts of money.

Using these sheets will help your child to:

• add up a range of money amounts involving decimals.

The worksheets in this section are aimed at children in Years 4 and 5.

• Column Addition Money Worksheets (UK)

Money Column Subtraction Worksheets

Here you will find a selection of Column Subtraction Money sheets designed to help your child subtract different amounts of money.

• subtract a range of money amounts involving decimals.
• Column Subtraction Money Worksheets (UK)
• Counting Money Games

Here is our collection of counting money games for kids.

All of these games are suitable for kids aged from 1st grade and upwards.

Playing games is a great way to practice math skills in a fun way. Games also help to develop reasoning, thinking and memory.

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The Math Salamanders hope you enjoy using these free printable Math worksheets and all our other Math games and resources.

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Money word problems

Word problem worksheets: money notation.

Below are three versions of our grade 4 math worksheet with word problems involving the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of amounts using money notation ($x.xx).  Calculations are kept simple to emphasize the underlying meaning of the questions.  Some problems require more than one step.  These worksheets are pdf files .

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Solving Problems - Money (Year 4)

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Learning about money is part of KS2 Maths in Year Four. You'll solve problems like turning pounds into pence and adding different types of coins. It's like Year Three, but with bigger numbers!

Money problems are like puzzles that test your adding and subtracting skills. You add to know how much things cost and subtract to get the right change. Quick maths helps in everyday life - imagine getting the wrong change!

Try this quiz to see how good you are at solving real-life money puzzles.

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Differentiated word problems involving money

Subject: Mathematics

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

18 May 2019

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Calculate Amounts of Money (Year 4)

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Children will review their understanding of monetary amounts with this set of worksheets. They will make up amounts using the fewest number of coins possible, total monetary amounts and answer the word problems about money.

Answers are provided.

• Key Stage: Key Stage 2
• Subject: Maths
• Topic: Units of Measure
• Topic Group: Measurement
• Year(s): Year 4
• Media Type: PDF
• Resource Type: Worksheet
• Last Updated: 24/10/2023
• Resource Code: M2WAC1029
• Curriculum Point(s): Estimate, compare and calculate different measures, including money in pounds and pence.

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Five things to know as the tax deadline looms

Scott Horsley

About a third of all taxpayers are expected to file their returns in the last two weeks before the April 15th deadline. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

About a third of all taxpayers are expected to file their returns in the last two weeks before the April 15th deadline.

With less than a week to go before the April 15th deadline, most taxpayers can breathe easy. About two-thirds have already filed their returns. And 68% of those got refunds. The average refund so far in 2024 is $3050 — 4.8% bigger than last year. Here are five things to know about this year's tax filing season.

How to file your tax returns: 6 things you should know this year

Procrastination rate holds steady.

This year's filing season began a week later than last year's. But as of March 29 , the total number of returns filed with the IRS was roughly even with last year. The agency had received more than 90 million tax returns by the end of last month. The vast majority of people (96.7%) filed electronically — which the IRS prefers and which greatly speeds processing. Of those electronic returns, 53% were completed by tax professionals while 47% were done by do-it-yourselfers. The IRS expects to receive about 50 million more returns during the final two weeks of the filing season. (Because of state holidays, taxpayers in Massachusetts and Maine have until April 17th to file this year.)

If you need more time

If you can't get your taxes done by next week's deadline, you can always file for an extension . That buys you another six months, until October 15. Postponing the filing deadline doesn't postpone the tax bill, though. You should still go ahead and pay any taxes you think you owe now, to avoid facing penalties and interest for a late payment.

This year, colleges must choose between fast financial aid offers, or accurate ones

Some people filed for free this year using a new irs website.

A small group of people sidestepped the commercial tax prep industry and filed electronic returns directly with the government for free this year. They were part of a new, IRS pilot program called "Direct File." It's only available in 12 states , and only for people with relatively simple tax returns . The IRS estimates that about 100,000 people might experiment with the program this year. If successful, Direct File could be expanded to more states and more taxpayers in future years.

If you don't qualify for the new Direct File program, you still might be able to file your taxes for free, so long as your adjusted gross income is under $79,000. You can check out free tax-filing options at the IRS Free File website . Some of the options include a free state tax return as well.

Crafters, re-sellers, and ticket scalpers avoid a paperwork headache for now

Under the American Rescue Plan, companies like eBay, Etsy, Depop and StubHub were supposed to start sending 1099-K tax forms this year to anyone who sold or re-sold items for as little as $600 in 2023. Those sales were also to be reported to the IRS, to make sure anyone who earned a profit on them paid the appropriate income tax. After complaints that would create a paperwork nightmare for a lot of small-time sellers ("What's my cost basis for that used guitar I just sold?"), the IRS postponed enforcement of the new rule . For the 2023 tax year, the agency will stick with its old reporting threshold, which only requires 1099-Ks for people who made at least $20,000 in sales and had more than 200 transactions.

Small sellers aren't completely off the hook, though. For the current tax year (the one you'll report on next year), the IRS plans to require 1099-Ks for sales of $5000 rather than $20,000. And unless Congress changes the law before then, the $600 threshold is set to kick in the following year. None of these reporting requirements change anyone's tax liability — just the government's ability to track the sales.

Biden unveils a budget that would cut costs for families and hike taxes for the rich

Rising wages and 'bracket creep'.

Workers' incomes have generally been rising. Average wages rose 4.1% for the 12 months ending in March. Because the federal income tax is "progressive" — meaning higher incomes are subject to higher tax rates — rising incomes could push people into higher tax brackets — a phenomenon known as "bracket creep." The IRS guards against this by adjusting tax brackets upwards each year, in line with inflation. If your income rises more slowly than inflation, you could actually find yourself in a lower tax bracket.

Other provisions of the tax code are also indexed for inflation, so things like the standard deduction and the maximum contribution to tax-advantaged retirement savings typically go up every year. In periods of higher inflation, these annual increases can be significant. The standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly this year rose by $1800.

There are many different measures of inflation. The yardstick the IRS uses to index tax brackets is called " chained CPI ." It typically shows prices climbing a little more slowly than the inflation measure used to calculate things like the Social Security cost of living adjustment . In 2023, for example, Social Security benefits jumped by 8.7%, but tax brackets rose just 6.9%.

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E.P.A. Says ‘Forever Chemicals’ Must Be Removed From Tap Water

The rule applies to a family of chemicals known as PFAS that are linked to serious health effects. Water utilities argue the cost is too great.

By Lisa Friedman

For the first time, the federal government is requiring municipal water systems to remove six synthetic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems that are present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans.

The extraordinary move from the Environmental Protection Agency mandates that water providers reduce perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, to near-zero levels. The compounds, found in everything from dental floss to firefighting foams to children’s toys, are called “forever chemicals” because they never fully degrade and can accumulate in the body and the environment.

The chemicals are so ubiquitous that they can be found in the blood of almost every person in the United States. A 2023 government study of private wells and public water systems detected PFAS chemicals in nearly half the tap water in the country .

Exposure to PFAS has been associated with metabolic disorders, decreased fertility in women, developmental delays in children and increased risk of some prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, according to the E.P.A .

Michael S. Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, called the new regulation “life changing.”

“This action will prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses,” Mr. Regan said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. He described the rule as the most significant action the federal government has ever taken to reduce PFAS exposure in drinking water.

“We are one huge step closer to finally shutting off the tap on forever chemicals once and for all,” he said.

The E.P.A. estimated it would cost water utilities about $1.5 billion annually to comply with the rule, though utilities maintain that the costs could be twice that amount and are worried about how to fund it. States and local governments have successfully sued some manufacturers of PFAS for contaminating drinking water supplies, but the settlements awarded to municipalities have been dwarfed by the costs of cleaning up the chemicals, municipal officials said.

Industry executives say taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill in the form of increased water rates.

The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law provides $9 billion to help communities address PFAS contamination and the E.P.A. said $1 billion of that money would be set aside to help states with initial testing and treatment.

Mr. Regan announced the regulation on Wednesday in Fayetteville, N.C., near the site where, in 2017, a Chemours chemical plant discharged water contaminated with PFAS into the Cape Fear River, making the local drinking water unsafe.

Mr. Regan, who previously served as North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, oversaw the Cape Fear PFAS investigation at the time and forced Chemours to clean up the air, soil and water in the lower Cape Fear River basin communities.

In 2022, the E.P.A. found the chemicals could cause harm at levels “much lower than previously understood” and that almost no level of exposure was safe.

Under the new rule from the E.P.A., water utilities must monitor supplies for PFAS chemicals and would be required to notify the public and reduce contamination if levels exceeded the new standard of 4 parts per trillion for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Previously, the agency had advised that drinking water contain no more than 70 parts per trillion of the chemicals.

Public water systems have three years to complete their monitoring. If those samples show that levels of PFAS exceed the new E.P.A. standards, the utilities would have another two years to purchase and install equipment designed to filter out PFAS.

In a 2020 peer-reviewed study , scientists at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization, estimated that more than 200 million Americans had PFAS in their drinking water.

Public health advocates and scientists said the new regulation was overdue.

“A growing body of scientific research shows that PFAS chemicals are more harmful to human health than previously thought, and at extremely low levels,” said Anna Reade, director of PFAS advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

In just the past year, more than a dozen peer-reviewed studies have found evidence of additional health effects of PFAS exposure, including a delay in the onset of puberty in girls, leading to a higher incidence of breast cancer, renal disease, and thyroid disease; a decrease in bone density in teenagers, potentially leading to osteoporosis; and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in women.

Dr. Susan M. Pinney, the director of the Center for Environmental Genetics at the University of Cincinnati, led a longitudinal study of young girls who had been exposed to PFAS after an industrial plant in West Virginia released the chemicals into the Ohio River.

She called the number of people exposed to PFAS around the country “mind boggling.”

Robert A. Bilott, an attorney who has spent more than two decades litigating the hazardous dumping of PFAS chemicals, said he had alerted the E.P.A. to the dangers posed by the chemicals in drinking water as early as 2001. “It has taken far too long to get to this point, but the scientific facts and truth about the health threat posed by these man-made poisons have finally prevailed,” Mr. Bilott said.

The E.P.A. calculated the health benefits of the new regulation at about $1.5 billion annually from reductions in cancer, heart attacks and strokes and birth complications.

But Republicans and industry groups, along with many mayors and county executives, said the Biden administration had created an impossible standard that would cost municipal water agencies billions of dollars.

Several questioned E.P.A.’s accounting as well as the science used to develop the new standard.

The American Water Works Association, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and other groups representing water utilities estimated that the cost of monitoring and remediation of PFAS could be as much as $3.2 billion annually. The figure is based on an analysis conducted for the American Water Works Association by Black & Veatch, a firm of consulting engineers.

Communities with limited resources will be hardest hit by the new rule, they said.

“When regulations are set near zero, that is not something manufacturers or water systems can economically achieve,” Brandon Farris, the vice president of energy policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, wrote in a letter to the E.P.A. “Regulations that are not economically achievable will lead to critical substances being manufactured outside of the U.S. where environmental protections are often less stringent.”

Christina Muryn, the mayor of Findlay, Ohio, a town of about 50,000 people, said that, while clean drinking water is an imperative, the E.P.A. was requiring municipalities to meet new mandates without adequate support.

“That is very frustrating to me as a citizen, as a mayor, and as someone who is responsible for our water treatment system,” Ms. Muryn said.

Public health advocates said the costs of the new rule were outweighed by the growing body of evidence of the dangers posed by PFAS.

Widely used since the 1940s, the chemicals are useful in repelling water and oil. Nonstick pans have been most famously associated with PFAS but the chemicals can be found in water-repellent clothes and carpets, certain shampoos, cosmetics and hundreds of other household items.

Lisa Friedman is a Times reporter who writes about how governments are addressing climate change and the effects of those policies on communities. More about Lisa Friedman

The Proliferation of ‘Forever Chemicals’

Pfas, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are hazardous compounds that pose a global threat to human health..

For the first time, the U.S. government is requiring municipal water systems to detect and remove PFAS from drinking water .

A global study found harmful levels of PFAS  in water samples taken far from any obvious source of contamination.

Virtually indestructible, PFAS are used in fast-food packaging and countless household items .

PFAS lurk in much of what we eat, drink and use, but scientists are only beginning to understand how they affect our health .

Though no one can avoid forever chemicals entirely, Wirecutter offers tips on how to limit your exposure .

Scientists have spent years searching for ways to destroy forever chemicals. In 2022, a team of chemists found a cheap, effective method to break them down .