age 3 and up with Adult Supervision
Starting at a young age to teach kids how to save, earn and donate money is an invaluable lifelong lesson. Money just doesn't appear from an ATM or can be swapped for a credit card when the wallet is empty. Saving money and delayed gratification are important skills to teach children. These skills will follow them in to adulthood.
We started by painting Melissa and Doug Piggy Banks. My kids loved each having their own! The paint that came with these little pigs was super smooth and covered really well!
Once they dried my kids started collecting dimes for chores! We kept it really simple using dimes only. That way they could have a lot of practice with the concept of tens. Some chores were one dime and others were worth more dimes.
About once a week we would dump our banks out and count the dimes. The first week one of my sons had 18 dimes. After converting that to $1.80 with him we looked through our “store”.
To create a store just shop for small toys that you know your child will like. I got a lot of this on clearance or from the target dollar spot and party section. Label each toy with a realistic price! I priced the Legos at the retail price they are sold for(I got them for a $ each!) and then little things like the cards at 50 cents each:)
He looked and saw a Lego set that he really wanted for 4 dollars! I asked if he had enough money and he sadly said No :(
I told him that there were cheaper things in the “store” that he could afford now, or he could wait and save up more money to get what he really wanted.
He decided to keep saving! 2 weeks later he had enough to get a Lego set! He was one happy kid!
It is so important to teach children delayed gratification in this world of credit cards and payment plans. Teaching them to work for and save for things they really want will help them later in life as adults.
Samantha is a stay at home mom of five children under the age of five. She teaches preschool from her home and loves it! She loves coming up with unique ways for her children and students to learn because when kids are having fun they learn so much better! You can find more activities and fun stuff at Samantha's blog Little Hands Big Work.
3 comments:
This is a great article! The earlier we can teach our kids practical money management and saving the less financial hardships they'll have to endure in life.
I really enjoyed reading this! Just this week my daughters have started earning pocket money. We are thinking of having the three jars (save, spend and charity). I love the idea of getting them to decorate the banks!
I am hosting a weekly link up at Itsy Bitsy Learners and hope you don't me stopping by to invite you to share the link with our readers! Hope to see you at: http://itsybitsylearners.com/2013/02/preschool-prekinder-nook/ !
Allie
I’ve never thought of this lesson. I’m going to try this and I’m sure, my kid will have a good understanding in managing his money.
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