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Find financial literacy activities

Find activities that can help you teach and nurture the building blocks of financial capability across the curriculum.

These classroom activities can be completed within a single class period. Each activity comes with a teacher guide and supporting student material, so it’s easy to implement whether you’re an experienced personal finance teacher, integrating financial literacy into another subject area, or supplementing your existing financial education curriculum.

We are updating the activities to match the new National Standards for Personal Financial Education. The standards in the activity PDF files may not match the website until these updates are complete.

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270 activities

270 activities

  • Brainstorming household budgets

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students review monthly incomes and household expenses to practice making budget decisions, including about housing and roommates.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things, Paying bills)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Budgeting for a fun day with a friend

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    While planning a fun day with a friend, students make decisions about how to budget their money.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Budgeting for needs and wants

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students explore the difference between needs and wants and practice making budget choices.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things, Paying bills)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Building a budget for a school field trip

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    While planning a large school field trip, students make decisions about how to budget their money.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Calculating loan payments

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)

    Using a case study, students explore how the amount borrowed, interest rates, and the term of a loan can increase or decrease the amount of loan payments.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans, Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Activities align with the My Money Five principles introduced by the statutorily created federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.