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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 35 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 35 matches out of 136 activities

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  • 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

  • Matching interests and talents to careers

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)

    Students match two people’s interests and talents to ideal careers and then write about their own interests, talents, and possible career choices.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Starting your own business

    Updated

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

    Students practice being entrepreneurs by thinking of businesses they might start based on their own ideas, talents, or passions.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Stepping into savings

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (2-3)

    Students learn how savings can increase at different rates by practicing skip counting and documenting their results on a worksheet.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Choosing how to save, Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Graphing ways to make money

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)

    Students discuss ways young people can earn money and complete a math and graphing exercise to apply their knowledge.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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