There are tons of fun ways to teach kids financial literacy that parents need to explore. When we think of basic life skills essential for kids, financial literacy may not be on our top picks because this is an area we often neglect. Every year, a whole week in March is set aside to celebrate global money week to raise awareness about financial literacy and stress the importance of wise financial habits.    

We have seen over the years that most people have no savings set aside to cover emergency expenses. Evidence is the number of people who went from being extremely rich to becoming broke in a matter of years. See our article on ten people who went from rich to broke.  This makes the financial literacy of the next generation even more crucial. It is never too early to start teaching your kids the necessary money lesson to help them become financially savvy kids in the future. Don’t forget, whatever lesson you teach your child about money at a young age can shape the way they manage money in adulthood.

So, here are six fun ways to teach your kids financial literacy. 

Teach needs and wants with a game

The first thing first is to teach your kids how to differentiate between their needs and wants. Needs are necessities like food, shelter and medicines. They are necessities because they are crucial for our survival. Wants conversely are things such as toys and vacations that we often consider after first prioritizing wants. Give your child a sheet of paper and take them around the house to point at needs and wants. When they spot a need, they write on one end of the paper, and when they spot a want, they write on the other end of the paper.

Use online financial games and apps.

There are tons of games available on the internet to teach kids about financial literacy. A pretty exciting game your child would love is The uber game created by the Financial Times. Also, check out  Financial Football and Kiddipreneur 101 game.

Money Board Games

Bring on the fun to financial literacy with money games. The suitable game would help your kids identify money, learn its value, start recognizing that buying things costs money and what it means to earn money. 

Games like Monopoly and Pay Day would be a popular option with real-life scenarios. These games help teach your kids financial literacy through features like paying bills, investments, earning a salary and settling debts.

Let them earn their own money

One of the best practical ways to teach kids about money is by allowing them to earn their own money for the things they want to buy. This is an opportunity to introduce them to savings. If they love particular sneakers and would love to buy them, let them set a saving goal for it. Please give them a small amount every day to save in their piggy bank and keep track of their amount at the end of the week and how much more they need to commit to achieving the set amount. Click here to download our free saving tracker for kids.

Offer Savings Incentives

An action that is positively rewarded will most likely be repeated. If you’re having trouble getting your kids to save money in their piggy bank, get them to set a big saving goal for the week. For instance, any amount they save at the end of the week gives them a percentage of it weekly. The more they save, the more percentage they get at the end of the week. If you save less, you get less. This style of rewarding kids for saving helps them save more and keep every penny friends and families give them. To reach their saving goals weekly, they may even end up spending less money at school to help them retain some more money for the piggy bank. Interesting? Try it.

Take them along for shopping

If you want your kids to pick up negotiation skills and budgeting, then take them along for shopping always. Kids pick up even the tiniest details as they interact with you every day.  Let them watch you write down a list of things you wish to get before you visit the store or supermarket and as you buy things according to your budget. 

In the end, the goal of this is to ensure your kids are better informed and equipped with the necessary information to ensure they are financially literate and grow up to be wise financial decision-makers. Not by mere words and boring lectures but through a combination of every day engaging activities.

To teach your kids more about financial literacy, see our 5 prudent ways to teach your kids to spend wisely