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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

  • Knowing what costs us money

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3)

    Students analyze a picture of things in a park to identify which ones would cost them money and which ones wouldn’t.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Learning about coins

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students learn to identify the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and their values.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Getting paid), Save and invest (Banking options), Spend (Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Learning about giving with Money Monsters

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3)

    Students listen to a story about giving money and then apply their learning using paper puppets.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Buying things, Giving to others)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Learning about insurance

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)

    Students play a game where they do an action to match common types of insurance with the risks they cover.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Making spending choices

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3)

    Students listen to a Money Monster story about getting a pet and then discuss spending choices.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Playing a banking fact and fiction game

    Updated

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

    Students listen to statements about banking and then walk to one side of the room or the other if they think the statement is fact or fiction.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save), Protect (Managing risk), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Practicing giving

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3)

    Students listen to a story about giving and then practice giving to another student.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Buying things, Giving to others)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Sequencing a story about borrowing

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students listen to a story about borrowing and then sequence picture cards so they can use them to retell the story.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Sharing a story about borrowing

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)

    Students read a story about Money Monsters who are learning to be good borrowers.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Spending money on a trip

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students make choices about how they would spend money on a trip to a park.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms
    • 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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