Math Fun with Balloons

The kiddos in my class keep running across the balloons I had in my closet and were wanting to break them open and take one. I keep telling them that I have them for activities. So last week I was trying to think of a fun and easy way to use them. That's when I had the idea that we could use them to practice the money skills we have been working to master. I gave each pair of students a balloon. They had to try to keep it up in the air and each time one of them hit the balloon they would say the next number that you count when counting by 5's (nickels). If they dropped the balloon, they had to start again. After a couple of super-engaged minutes, each pair got a chance to tell me their highest score. Then we switched it and did the same thing counting by 10's (dimes). To say they had fun was an understatement. I held onto the balloons for a couple of days. At the end of day two, I gave each student their own balloon which had some coins inside. They had to pop the balloon and then  they used an exit ticket to tell me which coins were inside, the value of each coin, and the total of all coins. It was quick, it was simple, and sometimes the simple ideas are the best ideas. For less than a buck we practiced skills we needed to in a fun way and got students laughing, interacting with each other, and totally engaged. What's better than that?