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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 24 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 24 matches out of 136 activities

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  • Borrowing or buying?

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students learn the difference between borrowing and buying things and then play a game where they sit or stand to distinguish between borrowing or buying.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Buying things), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 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

  • 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

  • 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 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

  • Bouncing ball protection game

    Updated

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

    In a circle time activity, students answer questions about how we protect ourselves, our money, and our property.

    Key information

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

  • Learning to save with Money Monsters

    Updated

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

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

    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

  • Coloring your savings

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students color pictures of dollar bills to show how much they’d need to save to buy different items.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Comparing places to save money

    Updated

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

    Students compare saving money at home to saving money at a bank or credit union and then act out stories to explore which option they would choose.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save, Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals), Protect (Managing risk)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms
Activities align with the My Money Five principles introduced by the statutorily created federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.

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