Experian put together a list of five fun ways to teach kids about money, which will help them with financial literacy—and help parents so the kids aren’t living with us forever. Here is part 2 of this 3 part series.
- Board Games
By keeping these around your house, your kids can play games with the family to learn more about money:
Monopoly Junior
Kids ages 5-8 can play a version of traditional Monopoly, learning how to count money and accumulate assets. It runs approximately $15.
Game of Life Junior
This version of Hasbro’s Game of Life is a version made for kids as young as 5 years old to go on various adventures and make money along the way. It costs about $25.
Cash Crunch Junior
This board game was created for children ages 7-12 and focuses on the value of money, denominations of money and making change. It’s a great way to help kids learn at home while having fun counting money. It costs $30 and is available on the Cash Crunch Games website.
Money Bags Coin Value Game
Kids ages 7 and older can play this board game from Learning Resources that teaches about collecting, counting and exchanging money. It costs about $16.
Pay Day
Originally launched in 1975, this board game was made for children 8 and older to play with their families. Created by Winning Moves Games, the object is to have the most money at the end of the game, which runs about 35-45 minutes long. Throughout the game, players can make deals on property to earn money, get a salary, pay off bills, take out loans, add to savings, and learn about paying fees. You can get it for approximately $15.
CASHFLOW
Ages 14 and up can learn more about financial skills, investing, and wealth building in a fun way with this interactive game. It was created by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling personal finance book of all time, Rich Dad Poor Dad, and comes with a PDF guide. The cost is approximately $80 on Amazon.
- Activities & Outings
Money Museum
If you live in Chicago or are traveling there this summer, make sure to take your kids to the Chicago Fed’s Money Museum. It’s open Monday through Friday (except for Bank Holidays) and they offer exhibits such as the Alexander Hamilton Exhibit and interactive displays like the “Banker Challenge” game where kids play the role of a bank manager.
Summer Camps
While camps to get your kids outdoors are great, you may want to look into finance camps for a fun, educational experience for part of the summer. Even though finance summer camp may not sound exciting at first, these camps make money and entrepreneurship really fun for kids:
- Camp BizSmartTM in Santa Clara, CA and Chattanooga, TN helps aspiring young entrepreneurs ages 11-15 learn how to solve business problems and defend their solution to executives and investors.
- KidsCamps.com offers a directory of camps, showcasing availability in 18 states for business and finance camps.
- Smart Money Commanders Fun Summer Money Games is launching its first online summer camp in mid-June 2018, which will run through August 2018.
- Young Americans Center For Financial Education offers workshops in the Denver area both to teach about managing money and running a business.
Your Local Children’s Museums
Check out the children museum(s) in your area. Many of them have rotating exhibits and some of those cover business, money and finance in fun, interactive ways. You can find children’s museums here.
Ellen Sirull is senior manager of content at Experian Consumer Services, a division of Experian, the nation’s largest credit bureau. In her role, she helps consumers learn about credit, personal finance and identity theft protection.