How to Make Play Money

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: December 10, 2024 Tested

Play money, although not necessarily helpful at the grocery store, has a lot of great uses. Play money is a fun accessory to games like "cops & robbers", "imaginary store", and even Monopoly. Whatever your reason, making play money is pretty easy and fun.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Making Play Money Using Microsoft Word

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Open Microsoft Word and turn on toolbars. Navigate to print Layout by press View and then Print Layout. Make sure your rulers indicating page length and width are on too. Also on the View tab, go to Toolbars and then scroll down to Customize at the bottom.
- Turn on the Standard, Formatting, and Drawing toolbars. Now you’re ready to start making your play money.
Once you’ve turned on your drawing toolbar a number of shapes will appear in a toolbar below where your font and font size toolbar lives. Press the rectangle and a screen will appear that says ‘create your drawing here’.

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Click in the top left hand corner of this rectangle and drag your cursor diagonally downward. As you drag your cursor you’ll see a new rectangle begin to appear. The further your drag your cursor the larger the rectangle will be.
- You can use the rulers above and to the side of your page to make the dimensions of the bill similar to a real dollar bill. The standard shape of a regular dollar bill is a rectangle and the dimensions are 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long.^{[1]
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Add the value to your bill. Press the WordArt button. This button will say Word Art on it and will have a three dimensional letter A next to it. Choose your font and font size and writer the number that you want the bill to represent. For example, if you are making a one dollar bill write the letter one.
- Drag this one to the top left corner of your bill, copy it, and then drag the copy down to the bottom right corner.
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Add decorations as you see fit. Using the other tools on the drawing toolbar you can add colors, decorations, drawings, designs, or anything else that you want. You can even add clip art to the bill if you would prefer not to draw.
- If you just want a utilitarian piece of play money, you can press Print and print the bill. You’ll have the opportunity to design it once it is printed too.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Making Play Money From Scratch

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Choose the type of paper you want to use. You can use any kind of paper without a pre-made design on it, for example colored construction paper. Printer paper works fine, as does construction paper. If you want to mimic the feeling of a dollar bill you’ll have to buy paper with 25 % cotton and 75 % linen.^{[2]
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- You can find this type of paper online, but it is more expensive.
2
Design your bill. Since it’s play money, it doesn’t need to be particularly serious. However, you should make sure that the amount of the money is easy to understand and unambiguous. Think of a cool design that you want for each denomination (1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 bills).
- Have originality and think of other number bills that don't exist that you want to make, such as 6, 25, or 10000 dollar bills.
- If you are using construction paper, you may want to use one color for each dollar value to make it easier.
The standard shape of a regular dollar bill is a rectangle and the dimensions are 2.61 inches wide by 6.14 inches long.^{[3]
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Research source} Cut them smaller, larger, or even another shape such as a triangle or square if you desire.
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Draw designs on the bills. Make sure that the bill value is clear to read. It's up to you to color and use one or both sides of the bill. A regular money bill uses both sides, while Monopoly money uses one side.
- Clip or organize each stack of bills by the value. Use them in your next game!

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Making Your Play Money Realistic

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Consider what your money represents. Try to think what you will be using your play money for. Most money has details that symbolize the country it represents. If you're making play money for a game, maybe you should put symbols on it that represent the game. If you're making play money to look realistic then you should try as best you can to copy the bill you want it to look like.
- For example, US bills are easily recognizable by the different presidents on them in the middle.
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Put a face on one side. Assuming you're trying to replicate a US bill, having a face on the bill is absolutely necessary. This will immediately identify the piece of paper as currency. Center the face in the middle of the rectangle and draw a circle around it. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington are all presidents featured on US currency.^{[4]
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Research source} If you're creating your own game you can draw any face.
- Draw your own face, the mascot of your school, or anything else.
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Write the name of your game or country above the centered face. On the very top of a US one dollar bill it says Federal Reserve Note and then The United States of America. Is this how you would like your play money to look? For example, if you're making play money to use at your school consider writing the name of your school above the face.
- Write the denomination out in letters below the face. On a US dollar this would be "One Dollar"
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Add appropriate designs on the back. Start by writing out the denomination in big letters in the middle of the back of your note. For a US dollar you would write 'ONE' in large letters. On either side of this writing you can add designs that suit the purpose of your money.
- If you're making the money for your school you could add the school crest to the right of the 'ONE' and then you could draw the state that you go to school in on the left side. Try to be creative with the symbols.
- A US dollar features a pyramid with a gleaming eyeball at the top and the US crest with an eagle. ^{[5]
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Consider adding serial codes. If you want to get really serious, you can add serial codes to each of your notes of play money. In the US the currency has a 10 digit serial code. It starts and ends with a letter with 8 numbers in between. Put this serial code on the center right and center left of the bill. ^{[6]
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- One example of a serial code would be L72543781G.

Printing Play Money

Using any internet search you can find a number of website offering kids play money for free online. You can choose which template you like and download it.
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Print your template. Once you have found a template that appeals to you, copy and paste the picture onto Microsoft Word or another text program. You can then change the size of the template by clicking on the image and dragging the box in the top left corner of the image. This will alter the size.
- If you’re printing a lot of play money copy and paste the image multiple times. Try to fill the page with the image to avoid wasting paper when you print it out.
- Make sure you print double sided. When you press print, select 'Print double-sided' in the preview menu'. This way the money will be printed on both sides and you'll be able to cut it out easily.
- You also can glue two identical pieces of play money together if you are unable to print double sided.
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Buy printed play money. You can also find pre-printed play money that you can buy in bulk online. Search “buy play money” in your internet browser and you’ll see there are a ton of options.
- You can buy cases with a variety of denominations and cut down on the work for yourself.

Play Money

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Question

How many bills of each denomination I should make?

Community Answer

You should try to make 30 of each. That way, if a few get lost, you will still have plenty left.

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If I make it from scratch, will it be better to take the time to make all of them identical?

Elizabeth Bolster

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It's mainly up to you to decide what you think will work best. Taking the time to make all of them identical would be nice so they can be told apart from other play money.

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Tips

To get multiple pre-made shapes, you can use Microsoft Paint or any image editing program. Print them out on printing paper.

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You can also use a scanner to create multiple pre-made designed bills before you color them. If you use a black/white scanner on colored bills, they may come out all black.

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