How it works
The Money Museum's hall is a timeline: the oldest things are by the door and the newest at the far end.
Money began as swapping, then shells, beads and salt. The first stamped coins are about 2,600 years old, and paper money began in China about a thousand years ago.
Banks grew in busy towns several hundred years ago. Later came the first cards, cash machines, shopping on computers, taps and apps.
Only the form of money changed: things, then coins, then paper, then numbers. Money stayed a promise people agree on.
Worked examples
Which is older?
- Coins are about 2,600 years old.
- Paper money is about 1,000 years old.
- 2,600 is more than 1,000, so coins are older.
Before or after 1900?
- Before: the first stamped coins, paper money, the tulip craze (1630s) and gold promises (1800s).
- After: the first cards (1950), cash machines (1960s), shopping on computers (1990s) and the crash of 2008.
Put the cards in place
- Paper money began about a thousand years ago.
- The first cards began in 1950.
- So cards came long after paper money.
What changed and what stayed
- The form changed: things, then coins, then paper, then numbers.
- The promise stayed: money works because people agree on it.
A taste of the worksheets
These are some of the questions on the sets. The printable sheets have more and an answer key.
- True or false? The tulip craze came before the Great Depression.
- True or false? Grandpa Tom says: cash machines came before paper money. Is Grandpa Tom right?
- What was new in the 1990s? Cash machines / The first cards / People shopping on computers
- What happened in some places in the 1920s? Prices ran away / Paper money began / The first cards were made
- Shells, coins, paper and numbers all work as money. What do they share? They are all made of metal / People agree together that it is money / They are all very heavy
Words to know
- timeline
- Events in the order they happened.
- craze
- A sudden rush that many people join, like the tulip craze.
- promise
- What money stays through all its changes: something people agree on.
- form
- The shape money takes: things, coins, paper or numbers.
Watch out for
- Cards came after paper money, not before.
- Money has not always been metal. It was shells and salt first, then metal, paper and now numbers.
- No country promises gold for its money today, though many did in the 1800s.
- A bigger number of years ago means older: 2,600 years ago is older than 1,000 years ago.
Try it
Which is older: paper money or the first cards?
Paper money. Paper money is about a thousand years old and the first cards began in 1950.
Money changed its form: things, coins, paper, then what?
Numbers. Only its form changed.
Did the tulip craze come before or after the Great Depression?
Before. The tulip craze was in the 1630s and the Great Depression in the 1930s.
What stayed the same through the whole story of money?
It is a promise people agree on. Shells, coins, paper and numbers all work because people agree.
For grown-ups
With a grown-up, draw a timeline of money. Put shells, coins, paper, cards and apps in order, with a note about each.
Draw a timeline of money together on a long strip of paper: shells, coins, paper, cards and apps in order, with a note about each.