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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.

We are updating the activities to match the new National Standards for Personal Financial Education. The standards in the activity PDF files may not match the website until these updates are complete.

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270 activities

270 activities

  • Comparing financial aid offers

    Updated

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

    Students compare college costs and financial aid offers for three schools and explore how the choices they make can have a financial impact down the road.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for college), Spend (Paying for college), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Composing songs and verse about fraud

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students write a song, rap, or poem that warns people about identity theft and types of fraud.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Protect (Managing risk, Preventing fraud and identity theft)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Cosigning loans and sharing credit

    Updated

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

    Students research credit and analyze scenarios on sharing credit cards and cosigning loans.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Borrow (Getting loans, Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • 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

  • Playing career charades

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3)

    Students play a game of charades to explore different careers.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Learning about careers, Making money)
    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.