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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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Showing 56 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 56 matches out of 136 activities

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  • Investigating taxes in your life

    Updated

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

    Students play a game to explore how tax revenues pay for various activities and services they encounter in daily life.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Paying taxes)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • 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

  • Comparing saving and investing

    Updated

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

    Students explore the differences between saving and investing and answer questions about which one they’d use to reach different financial goals.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Investing)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Discovering the benefits of investing early

    Updated

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

    Students use an online calculator and answer questions to learn about the value of investing early.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Investing)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Playing an investment game

    Updated

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

    Students work in groups to explore real-world scenarios that can affect stock investments.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Investing)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Comparing stock investments

    Updated

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

    Students learn how calculating capital gains and capital losses can help them evaluate stock investments.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Investing)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Creating a poster on life after high school

    Updated

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

    Students create a poster or infographic illustrating post-secondary education or workforce options they're interested in.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • 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

  • 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

  • Choosing a student loan that’s right for you

    Updated

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

    Students use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast federal and private student loans to help them find the one best suited for their needs.

    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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