Today, we use money to buy things we need and want. But money was not always like it is now. The story of money is very interesting.

Long ago, people did not use money at all. If someone wanted something, they had to give something else to get it. For example, a person with food could give food to someone with clothes. Then they would both get what they needed. This way worked, but it had problems. What if the person with clothes did not want that kind of food? What if you could not find the right person?

People needed a better way. They started to use special things that everyone wanted. In some places, people used things from the sea. In other places, they used other special things. These things became a kind of early money. If you had these things, you could get anything you needed.

Then people started to use hard material. This material was good because it was strong and did not break easily. It also lasted a long time. At first, people used pieces of this material. Later, they made the material into small round pieces. Each piece had the same size. This made getting things much easier. People knew exactly how much each piece was worth.

Later, people started to use thin material that you could write on. At first, people did not believe this could work. They asked, “How can this be worth anything?” But this thin material was easier to carry than heavy pieces. Places that kept money started to give people this thin material. It said they could get hard material if they wanted it. Slowly, people started to use it.

Today, much of our money is not anything you can hold. We use cards and phones to pay for things. The numbers are just information in computers. Money has changed many times, but its purpose stays the same. It helps people get what they need.