The ABCs of Teaching Kids about Money {K – O)

How do you teach a child the value of a dollar? How do you create an allowance system for young children with chores and more? Welcome to the third post of my series: The ABCs of Teaching Kids about Money. Monday’s post {A-E} began the series with hands on ideas to introduce your children to the world of MONEY. Tuesday’s post (F-J) continued the journey of discovering easy and accessible ways to teach kids about money. There are many way throughout the day to incorporate learning so involve your children. The activities that will enable your child to develop the tools he needs to be responsible financially can be easily integrated into your routine. I will reiterate: Teaching kids financial responsibility is an important task for parents and educators.

ABCsKO The ABCs of Teaching Kids about Money {K O)

K is for Safe “Keeping“.
What a powerful concept for children to learn at an early age. Preserve your money. Keep it safe. In a bank. From spending.

L is for Loan.
Involve your children is the act of buying a home, a car, paying for education. For most of us, these acts involve borrowing money. Even a 4 year old can understand this idea. Make up an activity where you can buy four red legos for six blue legos but your child only has five legos. How can he obtain that last lego? Make it fun.

M is for Mint.
Go straight to the source. The United States Mint has a really great portion of it’s website dedicated to kids’ learning. If you are in Denver or Philadelphia, you can take your kids on a tour of the Mint for FREE. For those of us not so close to those cities, the site offers a virtual tour of the coin making process.

N is for Nickel.
Coins are a piece of history, science and, generally, very interesting to kids and adults. Do a coin rubbing. Dissect the parts of a coin. Talk about Thomas Jefferson, the president whose face decorates the Nickel. Talk about the elements of which Nickel is actual composed – mostly copper but also a % of nickel itself. A fun President’s Day activity for kids is to do a sorting activity to match nickels to coins.

O is for Ownership.
How do you teach children the value and meaning of ownership? This one is tough but one that I try to keep in mind and jump on when the opportunity arises. To own something, in my view, is to respect and to embrace that “thing”. For example, I paid for most of my college so I feel a great ownership to my degree. I will take it seriously and not take for granted the opportunities my education has offered and continues to offer me and my family. Implementing an allowance system is one way to get at ownership. Your child earns money to pay for that special something he wants. If he uses his own hard earned money, chances are he’ll experience the greatness of ownership. Tougher for younger children who are a bit more concrete but give it a try. Kids “get it” more than we realize and give them credit for…

Additional resources to teach kids about money:

Teaching Kids about Money: First Two Steps
3 Ways to Learn Financial Financial Responsibility
Testing Your Financial Knowledge
Lunch Money Savings Lesson
Teaching Your Child to Help Without Reward
9 Ways to Teach Money Sense at Any Age
Simple Ways to Teach Preschoolers Financial Responsibility
5 Tips for Teaching Kids about Money
Allowance: Do You or Don’t You?
Want to Teach Kids About Money?

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s segment…

Marnie

The ABCs of Teaching Kids about Money {K O)

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Marnie Craycroft

Founder, Publisher, Writer & Editor at Carrots Are Orange, Inc.

Marnie began Carrots Are Orange in 2010 after the birth of her first son. Carrots Are Orange is a Montessori inspired homeschooling blog for parents and educators. She hails from Maine, a wonderfully down to earth place to grow up. Marnie moved to the west coast in 1999, currently living in Seattle with her husband and two young boys. She is pursuing Montessori certification.