Restaurant menu decimals: a 35-minute 5th grade math activity
What it is: a 5th grade decimals activity where students order meals from a pretend restaurant menu, add the prices, compare the total with a budget and find the change from a $20 bill. Adding and subtracting decimals feels real when the bill is yours.
Time: about 35 minutes. Grade: 5th grade.
Materials: a printed pretend menu with prices like $4.75, $2.50 and $1.35, order pads, and play money (optional).
- Read the menu together. Ask: "Which costs more, $2.50 or $2.05? How do you know?"
- Model one order: line up the decimal points, add, and estimate first to check the answer.
- In pairs, one student is the server and one the customer. The customer orders a meal for under $15; the server writes and totals the bill.
- The customer pays with $20 and the server finds the change. They check each other.
- Switch roles and add a twist: a coupon for $1.25 off.
Differentiation: students who need support use prices with only tenths (such as $3.50). Students who are ready figure out an order for a family of four under $40. English learners can use the frames "I would like ___" and "Your total is ___."
Quick check: ask a student to add $4.75 and $2.80 and explain how they lined up the numbers.
For more ideas at this grade, browse the other free activities on the Hub.
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About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 29, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades 3–5
- Subject
- Math
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.