This post is sponsored by Learning Resources, all opinions are my own.
Teaching Kids about Money: 10+ Ways to Play and Learn
This school year has started out amazing for us and we are so pleased with everything that John is learning in the classroom. Remember we are at a new private school this year and John is only actually at school 2 mornings a week. The other 3 days a week he is home with me where we homeschool. We continue the same workbooks that he does in his classroom setting but we add in a lot of other activities as well. In the next few weeks he is going to start working on addition and subtraction. I thought this was the perfect time to have fun learning about money. Teaching kids about money can feel overwhelming, as far as they know there is an unlimited supply. We’ve come up with some interactive games and tools that will making learning about money and it’s value fun.
We could spend all day play store with our new Learning Resources Pretend & Play Calculator Cash Register. It’s a great tool for both adding, subtracting, pushing in numbers, reconizing coins and their value and counting. Really this is our favorite. I do a lot of “shopping” for random toys around the house these days.
With the Learning Resources Money Activity Set you can ultilize various visual tools for matching pretend money along with matching/counting sets.
It may seem foreign to your kids but it never hurts to learn the concept of balancing a check book. You never know when check writing might make a come back.
At our house when you find loose change you have to know what the coin is called before you can have it. It’s amazing how quick change gets swiped off the counter and added to the piggy bank. We want to teach not just the concept of money but also the value of money. The Wise Owl Teaching Bank allows your child to put money into three sections: spend, save and share.
Once they understand the value of money its key to teach about earning, sending and saving as well. The Allowance board game will have them doing “chores” to earn an allownce.
Since sitting still and listening to mom talk all the time isn’t the best road to learning in our house I like to change things up, A LOT! Educational Insights Hot Dots is an awesome concept. We have used several of their book and now the Math Flash Cards- Money. Your child simply takes the talking pen and applies it to the dot on the desired problem. The talking pen is a fun way to learn and work through problem solving. Hot Dots has tons of great products for various grade levels as well.
We read a ton in our house and it only makes sense that we’d read a book about money while working on this! The Kids’ Money Book: Earning, Saving, Spending, Investing, Donating is one that we are going to tackle together. As well as The Coin Counting Book and One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money from the beloved Cat in the Hat learning library.
We already write numbers really well but its a continued practice, so rather than throw away a ton of printed worksheets, My First 123: Learn, practice, and play again and again! by Highlights is a Write-On Wipe-Off Board Book.
Looking for play money but don’t want to have the full cash register? Learning Resources Money Jar will give you everything you need for a hands on lesson and comes in a small container for easy storage.
Looking for tons of great worksheets and ideas on money education for your little ones? Check out this great set developed by a teacher for teachers!
