Easy ways an educator can help young scholars learn about money
Love your child to grow up with a healthy relationship with money? Here are ways a teacher or parents can help them learn about it.
It’s never too early to educate young scholars about money as long as they have reached the stage when they understand they should not put it in their mouth. The main reason for teaching kids about money is to help them avoid making the mistakes of their elders.
A teacher might assume that it’s too early to start educating young children about finances. However, children as young as three years can comprehend simple financial concepts like saving and spending.
In fact, money habits are formed from age seven, and children learn about financial behaviors mostly from people they spend most of their time with, which for school going children is their teachers. Besides, quality early childhood education builds a strong foundation for lifelong learning. Here are ways teachers can teach children about money.
Reinforce the concepts they already know
Young scholars nowadays more about spending than saving. However, saving is a money lesson that needs to be taught early on as it can set the tone for how they view money later on in their adult life. A teacher can select a specific lesson every week to ask children what they know about saving.
You can even introduce a simple, clear glass or plastic jar and mark it with a level they need to save before they can spend. Avoid using a piggy bank because it lacks the visual effect where a kid will be motivated to keep saving if they see their money growing.
Besides, as early as preschool children’s peer relationship has always had an enormous influence. As a result, if a child sees their classmate saving part of their allowance or lunch money, they are also more likely to be motivated to do the same. The trick is first to understand what the children know about saving and showing that it’s a good habit.
Create a pretend shop
Children love to play imaginary games and imitate what adults do. That is why a pretend toy shop is a great idea for role-playing and learning essential math, language skills, and money concepts.
A teacher can create a pretend shop using cupboards with a register containing a few coins and notes to sharpen their counting skills and know more about numbers.
Role-play grocery shopping
Going grocery shopping is an ideal way to teach children why they should purchase what they need and not always what they want. This will also educate them regarding smart shopping and the importance of carrying a shopping list and sticking to it.
If you are a guardian or parent who is also studying, you can buy essay to gain more free time to spend with your children, teaching them crucial financial matters.
When setting up a pretend grocery store in a classroom, allow the kids first to write their shopping list. Check the list and use it to create pictures of the things they mentioned and mark their prices. For instance, for children around five to seven years, you can set the price at 10 cent increment.
How to implement the lesson
Give children play money and ask them to buy only two things on their list from the pretend grocery store. Then set a quiz where some of the questions will be related to the activity they just did. For instance, “if I have $2, what can I buy from the grocery store.
Repeat the lesson as many times as possible until the children get correct answers on how much money they can spend and get an idea of the cost of things they often want. If you add colorful food labels, kids can learn about healthy eating and new vocabulary and their meanings.
Teach about the importance of setting financial goals
A recent survey shows that more than 80% of working people agree that high school didn’t prepare them to handle personal finances. Thus educating kids on the basics of money falls in the hands of their teachers.
For this lesson, a teacher must instruct children to create financial goal posters. Each student must specify what they intend to purchase that year. It can be a toy, book, or a fun game. Discuss with the kids and find out how they plan to pay for their goals.
Talk about the importance of saving money. You can even use storytime to select a few books about money or how to save. Keep checking with the kids to determine whether they are indeed saving to help meet their financial goals.
It’s important that school-going children learn financial intelligence while still young. With the above tips, you’ll have an easier time imparting this knowledge.
