Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Teaching Kids About Money


As a parent there are a lot of things you have to teach your kids; sleeping through the night, going to the bathroom, how to tie your shoes, reading, writing and the list goes on and on.  Sometimes along the way you will realize you forgot to teach your child something, like counting money.  Today I am sharing some tips on how to teach your kids about money.
How to teach kids about money

We are already in our third week of school, and when my youngest came home from school one day with a math paper that showed the value of the penny, nickel, dime and quarter as 1, 2, 3, 4; I realized that was something I had never taught him.  I pulled out some change and told him this was a penny and it was worth 1 cent, this is a nickel it is 5 cents, etc.- but it seemed to go right over his head, so I knew I needed to do something different.

How To Teach Kids About Money

1. Teach Coin Amounts
   -To help kids learn how much coins are worth, show them using counters- we used Honey Nut Cheerios.

   -We first sorted the coins in value from lowest to highest, then talked about how much each coin is worth.
teaching kids about money

  -My son counted out the amount of Cheerios and placed that amount underneath each coin.

 -It was then so much easier for him to visually see that the dime, even though actually smaller than the nickel is actually worth more.

-I then asked him questions like, how many pennies would you need to make a quarter.  Since we had the Cheerios there, I could also phrase it as how many Cheerios would you need to be the same as the quarter's Cheerios.

It truly was like a light bulb moment and it suddenly seemed to make sense.
Kids can learn

Plus, he was more than happy to eat the Cheerios when we were done learning, and since Cheerios are made of 100% Whole Grain Oats with no artificial flavors or colors, it is a great afternoon snack I don't mind him eating.
how to teach kids the value of money

2. Practice Making Money
   Kids love playing real world things, like restaurant or store.  My kids often will play restaurant, ordering pretend food and "cooking" for each other.  You can help your kids create a menu, or let them create it, with food prices listed.
kid menu

Then use real money, or play money, and have them pay for their food.  They will practice counting money and adding money all while feeling like they are just playing.

3. The Value of Money
  -"It only costs $20!" -has your child ever said something like this?  How can you help kids understand the value of money?

-In our home, we have house hold chores that we have our kids do simply because they are part of our family and we all work together.   If they do their jobs without having to be asked and without whining, then they can earn money for their jobs.

((I shared more about our family economy in this post))

Then as the kids earn money, it helps them recognize how much work they had to do to get that $20, how many weeks they had to save, and they are much less likely to spend it on a bunch of junk at the dollar store.

-As a stay-at-home mom I try to always thank my husband, and point out to my kids, how hard he works to provide for our family and that we are able to do the things we do because of his hard work and dedication.

**What tips do you have to teach your kids about money?  Is there ever anything you realized you forget to teach you kids?**

16 comments:

  1. It's never to early to start teaching kids about money! This is a fun way to do it!

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    1. Yes for sure! And when it can seem fun, then learning isn't bad at all

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  2. I'm so glad my mom educated me about money as a young kid because I developed great saving habits!

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    1. Yes! Kids need to be taught that from an early start

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  3. This is such a great way to teach kids about money. I'll have to remember that for Lily when she's older!

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  4. These are all fun ways to teach kids about money! :) Using Cheerios to teach coin values is genius.

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    1. Yes, he really just wasn't getting it until he was able to see something

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  5. These are really great ideas to help kids learn about money. And not just counting money, but the value of money, too! That's really important!

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    1. Yes, too many today just don't seem to understand the value of money and budgeting

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  6. So important for them to learn about it early!

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  7. These are fun ways to show kids about money that they'll understand be interested! My mom had me learn about money early, especially with my own savings account, where I could put my own money from allowance, my birthday or baby sitting!

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  8. Where were you when my son was younger?! We worked on some things and he has a great handle on money and how things work, he even gets paid for helping me with blog work!

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  9. This is an amazing idea! Totally stealing!!

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