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Raising Money-Smart Kids

When Should You Start Teaching Kids About Money?

We all want the best for our children and take the necessary steps to ensure they are fully equipped to take on the world, including understanding how to manage money. According to a Financial Health Network (FHN) survey of more than 5,000 participants, only 29% of Americans consider themselves “financially healthy.” That’s why we’re committed to helping our members and the next generation achieve financial success by making it educational and fun. Together, we can help our children develop healthy financial habits that will last a lifetime.

Every kid learns at their own pace, but a great place to start is with coin recognition—including size and color—once they understand the foundations of counting, usually around age three. In this blog, we’ve outlined three fun activities that can be adjusted for almost any age to help you teach your kids about money.

Family Movie Night

Recreate a movie theater in your own house! Select a family movie together and then create a ticket booth and concession stand. Purchase tickets from your child using pretend money and order your favorite movie snacks. Help your child add up your total and count out the change. For kids six and under, don’t worry about the value of money. Keep it simple and have them focus on counting so they can play too. Then grab the popcorn, find a seat, and enjoy the film!

Make a Wish List

First, have your child make a wish list. This could be a list of things they want to purchase now or savings goals they want to achieve. Together, determine each item’s cost and add up how much they need to pay for a single item or their full wish list.

Next, have them count how much they have saved and compare it to how much they need. You can help them learn how to prioritize purchases, think of how to save more to meet their goal, or adjust their goals to make their list more achievable.

This activity is a great jump start to learning how to budget and can grow with your kids. Those who understand simple addition and subtraction use whole numbers, and once they’ve learned decimals add in cents.

Kids Financial Activity Book

Our Kids Financial Activity Book is a great resource to teach children ages 6–10 different financial concepts. Inside you’ll find games and puzzles to help teach your children the difference between a need and a want, how to count money, and how to develop savings goals. You can download a printable copy of the Activity Book here.

At Yolo Federal, we encourage kids to start learning good savings habits early with our Jr. Savers Accounts. Visit our website to learn more about our Jr. Savers Accounts or schedule an appointment to open your child’s account today!

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