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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 40 matches out of 274 activities

Showing 40 matches out of 274 activities

Filters applied
Getting loans
Managing credit
High school (9-10)
High school (11-12)

  • Understanding redlining

    Updated

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

    Students read a handout about the practice of redlining and answer questions about its impact on individuals and communities.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals), Spend (Buying things), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Sonya explains the Military Lending Act

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure, explore the Military Lending Act (MLA), and use a loan calculator to understand the impacts of high-interest loans.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Angela learns about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure and answer questions about the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Angela builds her credit

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure, read a handout, and answer questions about how to build good credit.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Cruz buys a car

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure and answer questions about the challenges of buying a car.

    Key information

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

    Building block

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

  • Dirk makes smart spending choices

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure about smart spending practices for new servicemembers and then work as a group to write a short, persuasive speech about how to make smart spending choices.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Building emergency savings), Spend (Budgeting, Buying things), Borrow (Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Miya builds her wealth

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students experience an interactive adventure in how to build wealth, analyze needs and wants, explore investing, and reflect on how they can control their spending in the future.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Choosing how to save, Investing), Spend (Budgeting, Buying things), Borrow (Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Xavier saves his finances

    Updated

    Ideal for: High school (11-12)

    Students participate in an interactive adventure on the importance of discipline in both financial and military missions and read about managing and limiting debt.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Spend (Budgeting, Buying things), Borrow (Managing credit)
    Activity duration:
    75-90 minutes

    Building block

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

  • Banking basics card game

    Updated

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

    Students play a game to learn about common banking products and services and to consider which ones they might use now and in the future.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save), Spend (Buying things, Paying bills), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

  • Playing a banking fact and fiction game

    Updated

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

    Students listen to statements about banking and then walk to one side of the room or the other if they think the statement is fact or fiction.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save), Protect (Managing risk), Borrow (Getting loans)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • 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.