My son is approaching his 3rd birthday so we’re just beginning to introduce him to the concept of money and, I suppose very distantly since the topic is fairly intangible at this point, financial responsibility.
The first two steps we’re taking as we venture down this path are: 1) TALKING about money whenever the moment comes upon us and 2) FAMILIARIZING our son with REAL money. I want my son to feel comfortable and secure when dealing with and handling money whether it is spending, saving, investing or donating. I want him to be confident in his decisions, feel and actually BE responsible. A little intangible but important.
STEP 1: TALKING
The good news is that lately our son has given us plenty of every day opportunities to guide him. For example:
Son: “Mom, I can’t find talking Spencer. We need to go get another one.” (Spencer = Train)
Mom: “Well, how should we do that?”
Son: “Go to the store and the store will have one.”
Mom: “Will the store just give Spencer to us?”
Son: “No, we will buy it.”
Mom: “How will we do buy it?”
Son: “Mom, you will take your money out of your pocket and pay for the train.”
So, at least he is understanding the “currency exchange for goods” concept but we all know that isn’t enough. The conversation ended with us talking about ways HE could EARN money to buy the train himself. We talked about chores as one example. He actually became very excited about this idea and proceeded to run around the house pointing at all the things he could do for our home, “I will take the recycling out for you, mama! I will sweep the floor! I will put the clothes in the dryer!” All very endearing to me. Sentiments that I hope we’ll be able to cling onto for at least a short while.
STEP 2: FAMILIARIZING
Before starting this journey of physically exploring coins, I set two very simple GROUND RULES:
- Coins can be in your hands, on your leg/lap, on the floor, on the table to list a few reasonable place. Notice the list does not include “in the mouth”.
- Coins should remain in hands, on legs/laps, on the floor or on the table. Notice the list does not include “in the air”.
Familiarizing him with actual (gasp!) money takes patience, or at least does for me. My son is still in the very early phases of developing self control. So he immediately likes to fling a coin, or test me by putting a coin close to him mouth. He also gets a bit defensive when he is experiencing a new concept, one that he hasn’t yet learned and doesn’t get right away. I think that a lot of kids behave this way. So, sitting down with my child, fingering through coins, talking about each one…trust me, all of these simple actions adds to our children’s true understanding and ability to grasp “money”. We counted, sorted and stacked coins, all to get familiar with each coin.
To gear up for the journey, we read a wonderful book called The Coin Counting Book
Here is a great review on the book. The book is extremely hands on, the verse is catchy and the images of the coins are real, all of which I like in a teaching tool.
We also completed a traditional Montessori money activity (inspired by The Activity Mom) using enlarged dollar bills and four white circles to fit four quarters (4 quarters = 1 dollar). I chose to focus on the quarter. I didn’t want to bombard him with too much too quickly.
On a final note, these ideas are not going to become ingrained or learned overnight. I plan on introductory activities like the ones above to be a part of our lives a few times a week for the next several months. Then we’ll move onto bigger and better, arguably more exciting (at least to the Mama) part about learning financial responsibility.
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Marnie
Marnie Craycroft
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What great resources for learning about money! I need to find that book. It looks like awesome for learning about money.
Have you ever posted on your blog about earning money for chores? We are thinking about doing that with my 4 1/2 yo daughter as a way for her to learn about money and also teach responsibility, but I know there are conflicting views on that.
Rebekah recently posted…Egg Carton Math – Tinkerlab Creative Challenge
Great ideas! At the same age my daughter was saying, “McDonald’s is too expensive.” It just goes to show that it’s never to early to teach children important concepts. I love how you are just getting your son used to the coins and letting him know that things have a value and that it is important to work for it.
TerriAnn recently posted…Cookies Assemble! #TheAvengersEvent
This is great information! My almost four year old is very curious about money!
Lorie recently posted…Fly Swatter Painting & Kid’s Co-op 10
Thanks, Lorie! I’m getting a whole teaching kids about money series together that’ll you’ll probably enjoy!
These are really helpful tips, thanks! I’ve had a difficult time trying to introduce financial concepts to my 3 yr old. These ideas will really help. Thanks for linking up to the Weekly Kid’s Co-op.
Ness recently posted…A special Earth edition of The Weekly Kid’s Co-op
What wonderful ideas! We have recently started to introduce money too, and one thing that has worked well is letting our son, who has just turned 3, actually stand in line at a store, his chosen product in hand, and go through the checkout process. He waits, he gets his total, we count out what money he has, he pays, and then he collects his change. These are usually very simple, less than $5, purchases. It has made him very cautious about how he spends “his money” now. Sometimes he walks through a store and doesn’t choose anything because h doesn’t want to have to hand over his cash to the cashier. It’s been fun
Thanks for sharing all of your ideas. We are definitely going to have to get that book!
Liz Hallberg recently posted…Clubhouse Thank You, and some Bead Science!
Oh Liz! I LOVE that idea! So hands on and interactive, sure to get kids truly learning these important life skills. Thank you for sharing! ~ Marnie
that is so odd, I just did a post about familiarising my son with money, then I was browsing through Kids Co-op and spotted your post. Great Minds!
The Monko recently posted…Money play
love it! must get register…good work!
Thank you for the post. This was good. Perfect for my Grandson.
Older kids can learn from “Money Sense for Kids” by Holis Page Harman
tells all about how the money is made and what all the things on the money means.
Keep up the great posts!!
Thanks!
Your early financial literacy posts are fabulous, Marnie! Financial literacy is such an important area to work on during the preschool years. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow
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Thanks, Deb. I hope to continue this series. It is such an important topic!