Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
(855) 411-2372
Submit a Complaint
Search

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

Search for activities

Skip to search results

Showing 30 matches out of 135 activities

Showing 30 matches out of 135 activities

Filters applied

  • 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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Meeting your future self

    Updated

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

    Students imagine their lives in 10 years and write a fill-in-the-blank letter from their future selves to their current selves.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Earn (Learning about careers, Making money), Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Saving for post-secondary education

    Updated

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

    Students use an online compound interest calculator to explore the value of saving money over time for future education goals.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Talking with your family about paying for higher education

    Updated

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

    Through Internet research, students build their awareness of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study options and then share their findings with a parent or guardian.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Creating a presentation on 529 plans

    Updated

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

    Students conduct Internet research on 529 plans and create a digital slide presentation to inform others about how these plans can help people save for future education costs.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms
    • 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

  • Using a student loan calculator

    Updated

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

    Students use a student loan calculator to calculate monthly loan payments and how much they can save on total loan costs by paying a little extra each month.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Communicating ways to pay for higher education

    Updated

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

    Students research ways to pay for their higher education and create a brochure to record their findings.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • 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

  • Understanding ways to pay for education after high school

    Updated

    Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)

    Students conduct Internet research to build their awareness of options for paying for education after they graduate from high school.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms
    • 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.

Page last modified @