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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.

Illustration of teacher and student activity books

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136 activities

136 activities

  • Earning money

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students listen to a story about earning money and color pictures showing jobs that kids could do to earn money.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Making money)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Exploring community colleges

    Updated

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

    Students learn about the benefits of community college and consider whether attending community college could be a good option to help them prepare for their future.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Learning about careers, Making money), Spend (Paying for college)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Exploring ways to protect what’s important to us

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)

    Students draw a picture and answer open-ended questions based on a story about protecting ourselves and our property.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Managing risk, Using insurance)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Making smart money trades

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3)

    Students listen to a story about making money trades and determine whether the values of different groups of coins and paper money are equal or unequal.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Managing risk), Spend (Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Matching interests and talents to careers

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)

    Students match two people’s interests and talents to ideal careers and then write about their own interests, talents, and possible career choices.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Learning about careers, Making money)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Playing career charades

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3)

    Students play a game of charades to explore different careers.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Learning about careers, Making money)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Protecting what’s important

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students analyze a picture and identify characters that are protecting something.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Managing risk)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Singing a song about saving

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students discuss the importance of saving money and sing a song about saving.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Starting your own business

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)

    Students practice being entrepreneurs by thinking of businesses they might start based on their own ideas, talents, or passions.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Making money)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Understanding how much student debt you can afford

    Updated

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

    Students calculate how much they can afford in monthly student loan payments based on what their salary might be after graduating from college or another post-secondary institution.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Paying for college), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • 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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