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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 17 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 17 matches out of 136 activities

  • 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

  • Choosing a career

    Updated

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

    Students identify their interests and talents after reading a story about characters who explore careers connected to things they like to do.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Making spending choices

    Updated

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

    Students listen to a Money Monster story about getting a pet and then discuss spending choices.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • 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

  • Sharing a story about borrowing

    Updated

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

    Students read a story about Money Monsters who are learning to be good borrowers.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Being a thankful borrower

    Updated

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

    Students listen to a Money Monster story about borrowing things and then create a “thank you” card for someone they have borrowed something from.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Starting small and saving up

    Updated

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

    Students read a story about characters who save for something special and then create their own savings goal.

    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

  • Learning about careers with Money Monsters

    Updated

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

    Students use paper puppets to role-play a story about Money Monsters exploring career options and think about careers they might enjoy.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • 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 entrepreneurship

    Updated

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

    Students read a book about starting a business, think of an idea for a product they can create or improve, and design a plan for selling it.

    Key information

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