You might hear the word “finance” and think “oh, that’s grown-up stuff,” but actually, it doesn’t hurt to start learning about money and how people use it now. In fact, the earlier you start learning about financial literacy, the more likely it is that you’ll be good at dealing with money when you’re an adult. Learning about money combines strategies for making, saving, and spending money with math. Math is a big part of dealing with money because it helps you know how much money you have, how much things will cost, and how you can make sure that you have enough money for what you need. Using money math and some solid financial planning, you can save up enough money to buy a new video game or make money by running a lemonade stand or selling crafts that you make.
Why Learning About Money Matters
Learning about money now can help you to make smarter choices, both now and in the future. Financial literacy isn’t only about counting money: It’s also about understanding which purchases are a better value, setting priorities to make sure that you can afford what you need, and planning ahead to buy things you really want. It’s also better to learn about money now, when it’s OK to make mistakes, than to wait until you’re a grown-up, when making a mistake with your money could have serious consequences, like causing you to lose your home or not have enough food to eat.
- Wants and Needs With Bert and Ernie
- You and Your Money
- The Coin Song
- How Do We Get the Things We Want?
- Meet the Money Monsters!
- Saving and Spending Milestones by Age
- Learning About Money: An Age-by-Age Guide
- The Top Money Behavior Kids Learn From Their Parents
- Seven Everyday Activities That Teach Kids About Money
Fun Ways to Learn About Money
Becoming more financially smart doesn’t just mean doing a bunch of math worksheets. There are actually lots of ways to learn about money that are fun. For instance, you can play money games and math games online to get better at handing money and learn about budgeting, saving, and spending. You could also start your own business, right now, and get some practice with spending and making money. For instance, you could set up a lemonade stand in your front yard when it’s sunny out. You’ll have to think about how much making the lemonade costs, including the ingredients and the cups, and then decide how much you should charge per cup. Remember that you need to charge more than the lemonade costs to make money, but you can’t charge so much that nobody wants to buy your lemonade!
- Counting Money
- Coin Saver Challenge
- Counting With Coins
- Fruit Splat Coins
- Toy Shop Money
- Coins for Candy
- Robot Restaurant
- Cash Out
- Making Change
- Who Wants to Be a Hundredaire?
- Count Money
- Lemonade Larry
- Counting Money Game
- Dolphin Feed
- Tiny Tap Money
- Save or Spend Challenge
- Spent
- World of Cents
- Fistful of Dollars
- Jewelry Insurance
- Cookie Tycoon
- Dollar a Glass
- Cupcake Cup Money Math
- Coin War
- Money Games for Financial Literacy
Useful Tools to Help You Manage Your Money
Getting good at money math is important, but that doesn’t mean that you always need to be able to calculate everything yourself, off the top of your head. Some money math can get complicated, but luckily, there are lots of calculators and other tools that can help you. Some of these tools can help you handle simpler tasks like making a budget, while others can help you figure out complicated things like how much interest you’ll make if you put your money into a savings account at the bank and leave it there. Interest is money the bank pays you to let them use your money while it’s sitting in your account, and over time, it can really add up!
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