Guys, I’m so excited to be talking about how to teach your kids about money today!
Teaching kids about financial literacy means teaching kiddos what money is, how it’s earned and how and why we spend it. It involves things like teaching our littles to make the distinction between wants and needs, living comfortably within their means and ultimately making smart money choices. It’s so important to teach your kids about money because by doing so we are equipping our kiddos with the valuable skills that they need to manage their own finances for a lifetime of financial well-being.
Margsy finally understands the concept of money which means this mama has been keeping busy playing money games. We’re having a blast playing with cash registers, play money and reading money-centric books which are instilling financial literacy into my little girl.
Fun while encouraging financial literacy? Yes, please!
Teaching your kids about money is beyond important folks. Financial literacy is such a crucial skill that all kiddos need and there are some super awesome and fun ways to do it. Not all financial literacy activities need to cost money but some products are well worth the investment. Here are some of our current favorites and things that I’ve gladly purchased for my little girl.
15 neat ways to teach your kids about money
Educational Toys That teach your kids about money
Smart Piggy Trio Bank: 3-in-1 Money-wise Educational Piggy Bank . Every night when her father comes home he empties his pockets of change and we decide how much we’re going to spend, save and share with our Smart Piggy Trio Bank. She doesn’t quite get the concept of what each category means but she does understand that we’re putting money away for later which at the young of age of 2 is awesome!
Ben Franklin Toys Talking Toy Cash Register. Playing store is one of our newest favorite activities. We pull out her little talking cash register and I pull items out of our cabinets to add up how much things cost. She’s now able to punch in numbers as I tell her and she has a blast hearing the sounds and playing with the coins.
Learning Resources Cash ‘N’ Carry Wallet. Whenever we head out to the store Margsy puts her little wallet into her back pack. She knows that going to the store, super market or drug store means bringing money to buy things. She loves pulling it out at the cash register and pretend paying the cashier. Every cashier we’ve met so far thinks it’s pretty cool that my kiddo wants to pretend pay for our purchases.
Learning Resources Play Money This play money sits in a large jar on our counter. When Margsy feeds the animals, puts her diaper in the trash and brings her dirty cups to the sink she gets paid for her hard work. She loves getting rewarded and immediately stashes her money in her wallet. This little girl loves to save!
Learning Resources Pretend & Play Checkbook with Calculator and Checks This lovely set of learning resources are currently sitting in Margsy’s closet waiting to be played with. She’s still far too small to understand the concept of checks. So, we’re waiting until she’s a little older. But, I love that this learning resource teaches kiddos about writing checks, balancing a check book and keeping track of finances. When she’s a little older I’m sure we’ll have a blast playing with this!
Books that teach your kids about money
Reading has been part of Margsy’s bedtime routine from a very young age. Every night while she eats a small snack we read books to settle down for bed. Here is the selection we’re rotating right now. They’re all about money and touch on topics about earning, spending, needing and wanting!
What Can You Do with Money?: Earning, Spending, and Saving By Jennifer S Larson
Shanti Saves her Money, Ella Earns her Own Money & Lily Learns About Wants and Needs by Lisa Bullard
Give, Save, Spend by Clint Greenleaf
The Everything Kids’ Money Book: Earn it, save it, and watch it grow! by Brett McWhorter Sember
A Dollar, a Penny, How Much and How Many? by Brian P. Cleary
DIY Activities that teach your kids about money
Invite kiddos to help you make a grocery list using local circulars. I cannot wait until Margsy enjoys looking at store circulars as much as I do. Pull out a piece of paper and let your kiddos organize a shopping list for the week including prices. Let them tally it up and see if the list respects your budget. For older kiddos you can intentionally go over by adding extra items and ask them to remove non-essential items to teach them the difference between wants and needs.
Coin Sorting. Give kiddos a jar full of change and have them sort them. This activity not only allows them to experiment with touching money but helps them learn about the shape, size and value of the coins. This type of sensory activity will help kiddos learn the value of money from an early age! But, be very careful with young children since they love putting things in their mouths. Coin sorting should always be supervised.
Play store. Let kiddos pull canned goods, toiletries and other home goods from your pantry and cupboards. Let them price it and then sell it to you so that you can discuss the cost of each item. As they age and start learning about the value of money their cost estimates will become more accurate. It’s an incredible way to teach kids about cost and value.
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I want to hear from you!
How are YOU teaching your kiddo financial literacy?
Love these sort of posts…as a mum and teacher I try my hardest to give children the tools to be money-wise adults ☺ great job, thanks for posting! X
Thanks for stopping by and reading Anna!
This is great! Will definitely be using/sharing! Great resources!
Thank you so much!
I’m not a mom yet, but these are such great ideas! Margsy sounds absolutely adorable. When i was a kid, we had somethng similar to the smart piggy bank. We had a store front, a church, and a bank that we would celebrate our money into.
Thanks for reading Christina! There are so many fun ways to teach about money and get kiddos exited to learn about it!
This is such an important post! Generational poverty is something I deal with everyday with kids I work with and teaching them about money is really a life changer. Thanks for sharing all of these super creative ideas; I need to incorporate these in the class I teach.
Yes exactly. Thanks for reading Andrea!
Some really good tips here. When my teen was a little boy, we had a special piggy bank that had separate slots for saving, spending, donating, and investing. He learned the difference between these things from a very young age! My 7-year old girl just got a fancy new wallet of her own where she keeps money that she gets from her birthday or occasionally from Mommy or Daddy for doing special chores. She has learned how to add up or subtract so that she now knows how much change she’ll get back from the store when she goes to buy something.
This is so wonderful! Good job momma!
I have a 3 year old and we are just starting to introduce the concept of money, working, and paying for things. I love the wallet idea! Our son is fascinated with ours and I think this could really help drive home the concepts!
Wallets make awesome toys! Mine plays with hers for hours!
Good ideas! I found a game called Presto Change-O that I use with my kids. It teaches them how to make change. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s being manufactured anymore, but it would probably crop up on ebay or at thrift stores occasionally.
I’ve actually seen that game at a local thrift shop but it was in horrible shape so I didn’t buy! I’m definitely going to keep an eye out!
These ideas are awesome! We have a “Money Bingo” that my mom bought for the boys, where the coins actually look like our Canadian currency and it’s helped my 5 year old a lot. He still calls our nickel a beaver but at least he knows what’s on the coins, right?!
Awww beaver! So cute!
I am SO bookmarking this! One of my kids is money obsessed and the other couldn’t care less, so hopefully there is something to suit them both. Totally approve of kids learning to be smart with money ASAP! x
I find it super interesting that they are so different! Glad you enjoyed the post and thank you for stopping by Rachel!
How cool is your post. Full of brilliant ideas. Thank you so much for sharing
Thank YOU for reading Maud! Glad you liked them!
These are some great ideas! We need to work on more of this with our kids. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for reading Lauren!
Love these ideas- My kids are older and we have loved Dave Ramsey’s Foundation in Personal Finance Middle School edition. It is always great to start them early.
That’s a great suggestion for older kiddos!
I think it’s so important for kids to have good money sense – thank you for all these great suggestions!
It really is! Teaching them about money is vital!
I think I might check out these books! My husband and I come from families with two VERY different opinions about money and I want my son to grow up knowing how to manage his money!
The books are awesome! We’re reading them before bedtime and my little LOVES them!
yes! We have a chore system that has helped tremendously. The kids are so proud when they get to buy things with the money that they have earned themselves!
I love that you have a chore system! Great idea!
These are all great idea’s.I have a two year old. Right now her focus is driving but soon we’re going to dive into the world of money management so all of the resources you listed above are going to come in handy! Thanks for the ideas.
Thanks for reading! ?
We are working on learning about money at our house with our 5-year old!! These are great products that I’m definitely going to look into! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading! There are so many really creative and fun ways to introduce ideas of money to kiddos these days!
I have such sweet memories teaching my girls about money and wow these are great mama! I love the pretend money!
xo, Nicole
Thanks so much for reading Nicole! What a sweet memory!
Excellent article! Definitely will be using the resources listed here for my 3 little ones.
This is such a great idea! We did not teach our children the importance of money and now our teens have a hard time saving. Teaching them now is much harder and I regret not starting sooner.
These are excellent resources! We were already getting my son a cash register for his birthday later this month, but I will definitely be checking out the other resources mentioned!
Awesome! Thanks for stopping by Emily!
AHH, I love all of these ideas! Specifically the Piggy Trio Bank, how adorable is that! <3
Cute right? Thanks for stopping by Halley!
These are truly adorable! I love all the different options to kind of keep learning fresh.
Aren’t they cute? They really do make learning about money fun!
Helping kids learn about financial values is really important and great tips you shared.