Show Me the Money: Helping Kids Become Financially Literate

April is Financial Literacy Month and there’s no better time to start teaching your students about the basics of money management. Research shows that kids who learn to manage money when they’re young will be able to better handle their finances as adults. It helps lay a foundation for them to build good money habits.

Further, given the importance and benefits of good money management skills, a growing number of states now require high school students to take a course on personal finance. Give your students a head start and help them become financially wise with our Personal Financial Literacy Toolkit, lessons on basic money concepts money, virtual trips, games, and other resources.

Explore TCI Resources

  • Read & Do: I Make Choices When I Shop – In this Read & Do activity from our Social Studies Alive! Me and My World program, students learn about making economic decisions. Sign in to your TCI account to explore this activity.
    I Make Choices When I Shop
  • Virtual Shopping Trip: Take your students on a virtual shopping trip in our Social Studies Alive! My Community program. In this activity, students will make choices about what to buy and distinguish between economic needs and wants. They will also read about economic principles and practices that help consumers spend wisely. Sign in to your TCI account to explore this activity.

How-can-I-be-a-smart-customer

  • Budget Game: Make learning about money fun! In this Budget Game from our Social Studies Alive! Our Community and Beyond program students will be allocated tokens and asked to create a budget and make purchasing decisions based on the tokens available. Sign in to your TCI account to play this game.
    Using Money Wisely
  • Money, Banking, Saving, and Investing Activity: In this activity from our Econ Alive! Power to Choose program, students will act as financial advisers to make recommendations about spending, saving, and investing. Sign in to your TCI account to explore this activity.
  • Personal Financial Literacy Toolkit: TCI’s Personal Financial Literacy Toolkit (available across all grade levels), offers flexible, easy-to-use resources that will help your students assess their financial literacy, develop essential financial skills, and begin to plan for their financial futures. It includes handouts for the following:
    • Setting Goals and Earning an Income
    • Managing Your Money
    • Saving and Investing
    • Using Credit and Borrowing
    • Financial Fitness Quiz

Personal Financial Literacy Toolkit

Sign in to your TCI account to download the toolkit from the Program Support – Skills and Toolkits section.

Additional Resources

  • The U.S. Mint website offers resources that include tips and tricks for teaching students about counting, budgeting, and managing money.
  • The U.S. Treasury website offers a dynamic four-lesson curriculum supplement for middle school students, that includes math concepts using real-life examples from personal finance.
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