Find financial literacy activities
Find activities that can help you teach and nurture the building blocks of financial capability across the curriculum.
These classroom activities can be completed within a single class period. Each activity comes with a teacher guide and supporting student material, so it’s easy to implement whether you’re an experienced personal finance teacher, integrating financial literacy into another subject area, or supplementing your existing financial education curriculum.
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Mapping your money journey (elementary school)
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)
Students complete a short survey to find out about their current money skills and explore things they can do to manage money better.
Playing a need or want game
Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)
Students play a game where they review items people can buy and decide which ones are needs and which are wants.
Exploring saving and spending game
Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)
Students play a game where they earn and spend money to learn how our choices affect how we’re able to save.
Exploring entrepreneurship
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a book about starting a business, think of an idea for a product they can create or improve, and design a plan for selling it.
Drawing your own business comic strip
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students explore entrepreneurship by reading a story about entrepreneurs and drawing a comic strip about starting a business.
Exploring opportunity costs
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a book about the opportunity costs of starting a business, play a fill-in-the-blank game, and discuss things they could give up so they can have something else.
Playing a business game
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a book about starting a business and then play a game to explore things that can happen when you run a business.
Using a buying plan
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a scenario and then practice creating a buying plan and comparison shopping for a computer.
Making spending choices
Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3)
Students listen to a Money Monster story about getting a pet and then discuss spending choices.
Exploring needs and wants
Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)
Students review pictures of items and decide which ones are needs and which are wants.