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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.

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136 activities

136 activities

  • Protecting your Social Security number

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students read about the importance of protecting their Social Security number and decide if statements about Social Security numbers are true or false.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Preventing fraud and identity theft)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Reflecting on what’s worth saving for

    Updated

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

    Using the strategies of reflective writing, students create a personal statement sharing their hopes and dreams of things they would like to have or accomplish in the future.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Understanding how insurance works: A case study about Lucy

    Updated

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

    Students read about how insurance works and then review a case study to see how insurance choices can affect personal finances for a young adult in a rural area.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Managing risk, Using insurance)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Understanding who shapes your money decisions

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8), High school (9-10), High school (11-12)

    Students read a handout and then identify how both they and the people in their lives make choices about money.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Choosing how to save), Spend (Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Analyzing credit card statements

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students conduct online research to become familiar with reading and analyzing credit card statements.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function

  • Avoiding debt

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students read a short story and a handout to learn about excessive debt and ways to avoid or reduce debt.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans, Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Borrowing money for a house

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students “buy” a local home and calculate payments based on the principal, interest rate, and length of mortgage loans to learn how different loan terms affect the overall cost.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans, Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Building a good borrowing reputation

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students analyze the profiles of three different people to decide what kind of borrowing reputation they have.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Calculating energy costs

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students calculate the yearly costs of operating energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs and compare them to the costs of using standard appliances and bulbs.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Cosigning loans and sharing credit

    Updated

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

    Students research credit and analyze scenarios on sharing credit cards and cosigning loans.

    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.

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