April is financial literacy month. I wanted to start the month off by giving you fun and simple financial literacy activities to do with young children.
Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad said when you are an adult your report card is your credit score. This is one reason why teaching kids financial literacy is so important. Once a child becomes an adult, handling money becomes inevitable. So, let’s strive to build an early foundation for our children!
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GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST AND GET 10 ACTIVITIES TO BOOST KIDS’ FINANCIAL LITERACY KNOWLEDGE
Let’s get started with our activities!

Money Recognition
The value of money and how to count it is a basic skill every child should learn. The activities below will teach money recognition in a fun way.
- The first step in money recognition is for kids to hold and interact with money.
- Have your child put money in a piggy bank.
- Another activity is for the child to sort money by pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, etc.
- Help your child learn the difference in colors and sizes.
- After your child has mastered this, then teach them the monetary value of each coin by doing the following.
- Repeat step 3 by having the child sort coins, then make a COLORFUL SIGNS with the value of money.
- Create a sign for each coin and place it near each type of coin. The signs should read the following…
- Pennies = 1¢
- Nickels = 5¢
- Dimes = 10¢
- Quarters = 25¢
- Review the values frequently.
- Read books about the value of money such as…
- Watch the value of money videos on YouTube.
- Then move on to the next activity, Ice Cream Store.



Ice Cream Store
This is a great activity to reinforce the value of money. It also introduces your child to entrepreneurship.
- Create ice cream by using the following suggestions.
- Make ice cream with Playdoh. An example is shown in the picture below.
- You may also put various colored balls in cups to make pretend play ice cream.
- Another option is to purchase an ice cream set like the Melissa & Doug Scoop & Serve Ice Cream Counter.
- Create price tags and put them on the ice cream.
- Get pretend play money and give to the customer.
- We used a toy cash register
- Have your child play the ice cream store owner.
- As the customer, start by giving your child the correct amount of money for the ice cream.
- Once they become more advanced, give them more than enough money and help them determine the correct change to give you.
- This is also a great activity to teach your child about kindness and customer service.


Monopoly
Introduce your child to investing in real estate with this game. Use this game to teach your child financial literacy vocabulary such as Assets, Liabilities, and Transaction.
- If you have a young child, start off with Monopoly Junior.
- There are various versions of this game. The tips below can be used with most versions.
- Read the directions on how to play the game.
- Play the game with your child until they start to understand the concept and do the steps below.
- View the video below to learn how to teach your child the words, Assets, Liabilities, and Transactions by playing Monopoly.
Saving
This activity teaches kids how to work towards something they want or would like to purchase in the future.
- Explain to your child that saving money means putting money aside.
- Most kids like to save for something they want in the future.
- Is there a toy your child has been begging you for?
- Use this as an opportunity to teach them about saving.
- You may create a project around the house that allows them to earn money.
- It doesn’t have to be money, you many use a behavior chart so kids can earn awards at the end of the week.
- We use the Melissa & Doug Chore Chart.
- If my son completes his chores at the end of the week, then he earns a privilege of his choice like going for a fun outing or watching television.
Bonus Activity – How the Stock Market Works: A Simple Explanation For You and Your Kids
Financial Literacy can be taught to children in a fun way on any level.
Have fun with these activities!
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These financial literacy activities sound effective! We will have to try them. I think my kids would especially like the ice cream store game. My son got a bank for Christmas that counts the coins as you drop them in and displays the total – that might be another idea for how to help kids develop financial literacy.
Oh wow! I like the sound of the bank your son received for Christmas. Thank you for the suggestion. I hope he enjoys the activities!
What a great article on teaching kids about money! Lots of creative and fun ways to teach something that is so important. My son loves playing monopoly. He just turned 6, so we’ll have to look at getting some of the books you recommended!
Oh great Amber! I am glad you found this helpful! Thank you for your comment.
What fun ideas! I love the money funnel and the colorful wrappers. Thanks for sharing these engaging activities!
Thank you Lisa for commenting! The money funnels make it so much easier to put money in the wrappers.
These are really great ideas! My daughter is too young, but bookmarking for when shes a little older! Thanks so much for sharing, financial education is SO underrated these days!
Thank you for commenting Ariana! I hope your daughter enjoys these activities once she becomes older!!
Teaching kids financial literacy is so important. Thanks for these fun activities to use as a guide. My son will love the ice cream store!
Thank you Jessica for your comment. We had a good time with the ice cream store. I hope your son enjoys it as well.
These are great ideas for teaching financial literacy to kids. This is such an important skill that so many adults are lacking!
I think these are AWESOME ideas! If my son were still little, I would have used these with him. I was forever searching for learning games, etc. I also like how a credit score is referred to as an adult report card. So true! Thank you for sharing
Thank you for your comment Deborah!!! We had a lot of fun doing these simple activities!
Yup! Start em young. Nice gift ideas.
Thank you Dani for your comment!