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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 20 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 20 matches out of 136 activities

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  • Calculating the numbers in your paycheck

    Updated

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

    Students review a pay stub from a sample paycheck to understand the real-world effect of taxes and deductions on the amount of money they receive.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes
    Available in Spanish

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Understanding jobs, teens, and taxes

    Updated

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

    Students read a handout about taxes and respond to questions to explore the relationship between working and taxes.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Understanding taxes and your paycheck

    Updated

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

    Students analyze statements about taxes to better understand how taxes affect people’s paychecks.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Researching the gig economy

    Updated

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

    Students conduct research about the gig economy, identify benefits and drawbacks to gig work, and reflect on whether gig work would be right for them.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • 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

  • Investigating payroll tax and federal income tax withholding

    Updated

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

    Students analyze W-4 forms and pay stubs in order to better understand payroll taxes and federal income tax withholding.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Planning your financial path to college graduation

    Updated

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

    Students use a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau college planning tool to explore college costs and options for covering those costs.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for college), Spend (Paying for college), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 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

  • Learning how FAFSA works

    Updated

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

    Students learn about how the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) works by completing a simulation activity.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for college), Spend (Paying for college), Borrow (Getting loans)
    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.