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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Choosing the best cell phone plan for you
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students research the features and costs of cell phones and cell phone plans and use a decision matrix to compare options and determine the best one for their needs, wants, and budget.
Contrasting long-term and short-term savings goals
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
Students learn the difference between short-term and long-term savings goals and apply their knowledge in an exercise-oriented game.
Learning about budgets
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
Students learn about budgeting rules and then apply their understanding in an interactive budgeting activity.
Using idioms to promote saving
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
Students explore idioms, which are expressions that use figurative speech, to better understand financial concepts like saving and earning.
Creating a buying plan
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students practice creating a buying plan and apply this strategy to provide buying advice to others.
Preparing to pay for education after high school
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
After brainstorming ways to save for education after high school, students create an interactive graphic organizer that highlights ways to pay for postsecondary education.
Reflecting on needs versus wants
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
By thinking about their own expenses, students explore how differentiating between needs and wants can inform daily financial decisions and rules to live by.
Saving and investing card game
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
Students play a game to learn the difference between saving and investing and explore when to save or invest.
Spending scenarios
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students consider everyday spending decisions by working through real-world scenarios.
Analyzing budgets
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students analyze case studies and apply the 50-30-20 rule of budgeting.