Penny
Coins are worth different amounts; you count money by adding up how much each is worth
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Penny is a magpie who loves shiny coins — but not just for shining. Penny knows a secret many forget: coins are not all worth the same. "A penny is one, a nickel is five, a dime is ten, a quarter is twenty-five," Penny chatters. "You don't count how many coins — you count how much they're worth. Add up the values, and you know what you've got."
Down at the seed stand, two chipmunks, Nutkin and Bram, are squabbling over a trade. "You have MORE coins than me, so give me some!" says Nutkin, who has five pennies. "But mine are worth more!" says Bram, who has two dimes. Neither one can prove it, and both are getting cross.
"Let's count by worth, not by number," says Penny, hopping down. "Nutkin, your five pennies — one, two, three, four, five cents. That's five cents in all. Bram, your two dimes — ten, twenty. That's twenty cents." The chipmunks blink. Bram, with only two coins, has far more money than Nutkin with five.
"So more coins doesn't mean more money," says Nutkin slowly, and to Nutkin's surprise, it's not upsetting — it's just how coins work. "A dime is worth ten of my pennies," Nutkin adds. "That's why two of them beat my five!" Now both chipmunks can see exactly what each has, fair and square. The squabble simply runs out of steam.
Penny helps them trade properly — a dime for ten pennies, even-steven — and both chipmunks trot off happy, each knowing they got a fair deal. A warm, settled, everything's-square feeling glows in them both. And Penny, delighted, lines up the coins by value in a neat shiny row, smallest worth to largest, and admires how fair the world can be when you count it right.
Hear it as an audio drama
A short play starring Penny, from MeasurePals. Different voices, same idea. Listen any time after you read.
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Read the drama script
- Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and Measurepals — this is Penny, in chapter 1 of the Measurepals cast.
- Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
- Narrator: Penny is a magpie who loves shiny coins — but not just for shining. Penny knows a secret many forget.
- Penny: Coins are not all worth the same! A penny is one, a nickel is five, a dime is ten, a quarter is twenty-five.
- Narrator: A young mouse had four coins and thought that meant four cents.
- Penny: Ah — you don't count how many coins. You count how much they're worth. Add up the values.
- Narrator: The mouse had a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny.
- Penny: Start with the biggest — twenty-five. Then the dime, thirty-five. Then the nickel, forty. Then the penny, forty-one. Forty-one cents — from just four coins!
- Mouse: Forty-one! Not four!
- Penny: See? A small pile can be worth a lot, or a little — it depends on the coins. Add up the values, and you know exactly what you've got. That's what makes Penny, Penny.
- Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
- Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
- Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
- Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Penny: coins aren't counted one-by-one — you add up …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The MeasurePals ensemble
Penny is one of the friends in MeasurePals. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
