Before your little rascals go out into the world, it’s important they have a basic understanding of money, how to save it and how to spend it in a safe and responsible manner. Money and finances are an integral part of our society and how it functions. We can never be too young to start, and most of it is just beginner math, which is useful in other ways too! Now, this might not sound like a super fun subject, but we’ve found some great activities and strategies regarding economics that are age-appropriate and delivered in a useful and interactive way.
1. Class Store
This activity is a great student guide to start understanding item pricing, begin to learn about amounts, and the worth of items. To build your classroom store, grab pencils, posters, your computer, the projector (things of different values) and ask your students to guess the prices before you mark them yourself.
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2. Money-Sorting Math
This educational game is easy and can be added or adapted to make it more challenging for older learners. Put a variety of coins in a jar and have your students sort them by value. Next, write different amounts on the board and ask them to produce the correct amounts. Explain how the same amount can be achieved using different coin combinations.
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3. Coin Search Sensory Dough
Sensory activities are a great way to spice up a more serious subject. Make some basic cloud dough with flour and baby oil and hide some coins inside. Have your kiddos feel and squeeze around to find the coins and count them afterward.
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4. Play Grocery Market
To create your classroom supermarket have each student bring a grocery item to class. Have different shelves labeled according to the type of item and price. Ask your students to sort all the items and talk about budgets and sales for a better knowledge of saving.
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5. Roll and Count Game
Get some dice and a bunch of different coins. Gather your students around and have them take turns rolling the dice and collecting the coin amount for the combined numbers they rolled. 2-3 dice is good for this, pennies and nickels work the best.
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6. Prices and Rounding Practice
Rounding up is an important money skill for kids to learn before they are responsible for their own finances. If a price tag says $1.99, students should recognize that just because the number starts with a 1 doesn’t mean the price is close to that amount. Label items in the class with prices students need to round up and budget for.
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7. Building Credit and Understanding Interest
Here is a financial concept your elementary students have probably not heard of before. Understanding how interest works is a big lesson objective for economics. This introductory lesson teaches students the benefits and downsides of borrowing money from a bank.
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8. Money Bags Activity
This reward system for good behavior does more than just help with classroom management, it helps your students set short-term financial goals while learning how to save and spend on things they find value in. You can use play money and set prices for classroom supplies they can purchase.
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9. Donut Shop Math Game
This interactive session is great for a morning in class regarding financial decisions and budgeting. Create a donut station (real or with paper), and set out plenty of add-ons for students to pick and choose from. Give each student an amount of money for their donut and let them decide which flavor and extras they want/can afford.
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10. Fair or Not Fair
This money smart for young people interactive game teaches about the decision-making process, and how to know whether a deal is fair or unfair. The purpose of this financial activity is to make trades with your peers. Each player has an amount of money and tries to make deals by offering some of their coins for coins of other players.
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11. Green$treets App
This money-centered app promotes financial literacy among students, it’s free, and will be one of your favorite resources for teaching economics and savings skills. The games in the app are interactive and engaging with stories and characters that teach about financial responsibility.
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12. Wants Vs. Needs
School students learn as they get older and have more control over their personal finances, what things they want and what things they need. There are plenty of scenario games you can play with your students to show them what is necessary and what to hold off on buying if money is tight.
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13. Making Money Real
In a world full of swiping cards and paperless payment, it can be easy to forget the number on the cash register is real money. Send your students home with the assignment to go shopping with their caretaker and record what they bought and the total price at the end. Then have them share in class and have an open discussion about prices and products.
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14. Trading Skills and Decision Making
Most teachers have to decide how much they want to give in to our students’ wishes. This advanced lesson about transactions lets your students trade their free time, toys, school supplies, and other resources for things they want more. You can make this a business day lesson and practice weighing the cost and benefits of trading.
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15. Financial Goals Poster
This art project will be an awesome addition to your age-appropriate curriculum and emphasizes student engagement, planning, and creativity. Ask your students to think of 5 things they would like to purchase when they are adults. Have them draw or print out pictures, make a collage, and estimate the amount of each to plan for how to afford them.
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16. Reading About Money
This art project will be an awesome addition to your age-appropriate curriculum and emphasizes student engagement, planning, and creativity. Ask your students to think of 5 things they would like to purchase when they are adults. Have them draw or print out pictures, make a collage, and estimate the amount of each to plan for how to afford them.
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17. Money-Themed Board Games
There are a lot of board games available that teach kids about money in a fun and competitive way that don’t have real-world consequences but are still engaging. You can play them during class time or use them as a reward for the end of a challenging math lesson.
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18. Sharing is Caring
There are things we should save, things we should spend, and things we should share. Teach your kids the importance of sharing using candy or snacks to represent items they want and have to share for everyone to benefit from.
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19. Savings and Planning Scenarios
This is a “what if” imagination game for students to help demonstrate the bigger role money plays in their lives besides food, electronics, and toys. Have them help you make a list on the whiteboard of scenarios, incidences, and costs that may arise as they grow up.
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20. Price Check
Here’s a “money smart for young people” activity that will help save them tons in the long run with little effort. The key lesson concept to emphasize is, before they purchase something, do a price comparison. This can mean checking other stores in person or searching the product online and seeing if they can find what they want for cheaper before purchasing the first option they see.
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21. Smart Spending Habits
Ask your students to go home and count all the items they have purchased or ask their parents to purchase for them and make a list of the items they no longer use. When they bring their list to class, help them estimate and count up the total price so they understand moving forward what is worth their money and what is not.
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22. Earning is Fun!
Monetize some activities you do for your economics and personal finance lessons. Make the expectations and payment very clear, give your students time to complete the common goal, and reward them fairly. This will provide them with a sense of accomplishment and responsibility going forward.
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23. Numbers Store Outing
Time to get out into the world and improve your kid’s decision-making process. Give them a number or numbers to look for in the store, and tell them they can only buy products that include that number. This is an exercise to help them become aware of items prices and what things cost.
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24. Money Poems and Sing-Alongs
There are plenty of catchy, simple songs and poems about money that you can incorporate into your lesson plans as an easy reminder regarding basic math and life skills.
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25. Basic Banking Activity
Financial institutions are meant to keep our money safe and help us save. Explain the purpose, cost, and benefits of putting money into a bank to your students. Depending on the grade level, make this as challenging as necessary regarding the numbers and transactions you have your students calculate.
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26. Lending Money
Lending is similar to borrowing someone something with a little interest on top. Hopefully, by the time your students are in elementary school, they have lent or borrowed something before. Ask them what they have borrowed or lent. What makes someone a good/bad borrower (discuss).
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27. Credit Card Literacy
As adults, we hopefully understand how credit cards work, what using them entails, and the cost/benefit analysis. Here are 2 board games and 1 card game you can play with your students to teach them the ins and outs of credit cards.
1. Pay Day
2. Act Your Wage
3. Credit Card “Go Fish”
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28. ATM Transaction Practice
Most people use ATM machines to withdraw cash these days, so it’s a good idea to teach students how to use one. There are lots of toy ATMs you can practice with so your students know what to do when they are out in the world.
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30. Penny Spinners
Amidst all the serious talk about financial responsibility, it’s nice to throw in some artistic activities to diversify your curriculum. Here is a simple money-themed craft your students can make using pennies.
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31. Job Chart
A job chart can be implemented in the classroom or at home. When your kids ask you for money or when your students want to skip an activity or take a break they can consult your personalized job chart and make smart decisions.
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32. Financial Literacy Vocabulary
It’s important to include useful vocabulary into your financial literacy curriculum. Some words are easy to explain and others will need examples and visuals. Practice using the words throughout the week and see if your students can use them correctly.
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33. Making Smart Decisions
There are teacher resources for math and financial literacy that you can use to help your students understand what the right choice is pertaining to money. Delayed gratification is an important concept to know moving into the realm of financial responsibility.
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34. Donation and Charity Concepts
To fully understand financial responsibility in the modern world, we need to teach our students the importance of giving back and taking care of those in need. Some services are for the betterment of the community and not for personal gain. Ask your students to contribute to one charitable cause for class credit.
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35. Career Planning Class Poster
Usually, our career is what fuels our finances, so encourage your students to think about what they want their careers to be. Give them a handout with guiding questions to give them a framework to envision their future.
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