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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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Showing 9 matches out of 135 activities

Showing 9 matches out of 135 activities

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  • Creating a buying plan

    Updated

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

    Students practice creating a buying plan and apply this strategy to provide buying advice to others.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Choosing the best cell phone plan for you

    Updated

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

    Students research the features and costs of cell phones and cell phone plans and use a decision matrix to compare options and determine the best one for their needs, wants, and budget.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Spending scenarios

    Updated

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

    Students consider everyday spending decisions by working through real-world scenarios.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Reflecting on needs versus wants

    Updated

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

    By thinking about their own expenses, students explore how differentiating between needs and wants can inform daily financial decisions and rules to live by.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Including giving in your budget

    Updated

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

    Students explore how creating a budgeting rule can help people include giving in their monthly budgets.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Playing a saving and spending game

    Updated

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

    Students discuss the importance of emergency savings and play a game to explore connections between saving, spending, and unexpected expenses.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Making money), Save and invest (Building emergency savings), Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Budgeting for fun in a rural setting

    Updated

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

    Students practice budgeting by planning for a fun overnight trip to a rural area.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Bouncing ball budgets

    Updated

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

    Through an interactive game, students share spending decisions they’ve made in the past and start to think about their spending habits in new ways.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Analyzing budgets

    Updated

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

    Students analyze case studies and apply the 50-30-20 rule of budgeting.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things, Paying bills)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 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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