Three ways to get little kids interested in money
August 29, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Kid Stuff
Kids won’t learn about money if you never introduce it. Here are three quick ways to get them thinking about money and budgeting.
Play with real money. Fake money always confused my son. When I broke out the real deal, he became much more used to the idea of money, and learned to tell coins apart.
Don’t leave the kids at home: Shopping sans kids is a total luxury; trust me I get it. However taking them to the store is one of the best opportunities you have to discuss prices, reductions, cost per pound and more.
Give them a calculator: My son loved calculators before he could really use one properly. Being that he’s just 7 he still can’t use all the functions, but he carries a calculator around with him anyhow. This might seem more like a math tool, and yeah, he likes to ask me math questions, because he can whip them out on a calculator – I’m talking, “Hey mom, what’s 1,456 – 40 + 341″ Um, ok. But he’s thinking about calculations, and that’s a good thing – it’s very money related. All this math Cedar’s been figuring out has helped him to understand what happens when you take 23 cents away from a dollar, stuff like that. I think being involved with numbers is a good thing if you’re trying to teach money skills.
What do you do to teach your kids about money? Games, books, other activities?
You might also like to read: How to totally mess up your kids when it comes to money
