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Financial Growth
How to Teach Your Kids About Money
With Lesson Plans Included
Jan. 12, 2021
How do you begin to teach your kids about money? It’s a big undertaking that will have a long-term impact on your child. But relax…you’re off to the right start. By initiating conversations about money and taking advantage of free resources like PNWFCU’s financial education lesson plans, you can empower your kids to make smart decisions.
Elementary School Money Skills
You can begin with some practical steps. Help your child open a savings account and deposit their birthday money. Show them little ways to earn extra money and watch their savings grow over time.
Make learning about money fun with games and lessons. You can download PNWFCU’s financial education curriculum to help.
Module 1 is a great place to start by introducing your grade school kids to the basics of money. Teach them about the various coins and paper money with the money flash cards and the coin book.
Read More: See All Elementary School Financial Education Lessons
Middle School Money Skills
Look for opportunities to discuss the daily realities of money and budgeting with your kids. For instance, you could show them how to comparison shop for items at the grocery store, or explain the process of saving up for a big financial goal like a family trip.
Download middle school module 3 to help your kids learn to prioritize goals and be intentional with their spending. There’s a budgeting lesson with activity sheets where kids can list their goals in different categories and consider their top goals. Then they can set up a personal budget and plan the steps to reach their goals.
Read More: See All Middle School Financial Education Lessons
High School Money Skills
Teenagers may want to start earning money with a part-time job or gig. You can help them understand the value of money by encouraging them to save up for things they want, and explain the cost of items in terms of hours of work required.
When the time comes, you can help them set up a credit card, or add them as an approved user on your card so they can start building credit.
It’s never too soon to start talking about career aspirations and planning. PNWFCU’s curriculum has several activity sheets to help. In high school module 2, teens can take a career interest survey and start learning about potential careers.
They can explore the earning potential of different credentials in module 3, and learn about weighing different job benefits like location and hours in module 5.
Read More: See All High School Financial Education Lessons
Teaching Your Kids About Money
Many young people enter the real world with no training in how to handle money. But money skills are a vital part of daily life. So the more you can teach your kids about money early on, the better.
We hope you’ll check out our financial education curriculum, as well as these other helpful resources to prepare your kids for the future.
Read More: Help Your Teenager Save Money