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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 12 matches out of 136 activities

Showing 12 matches out of 136 activities

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  • 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
    Available in Spanish

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Picturing what you’re saving for

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)

    Students draw pictures of a savings goal and discuss the importance of saving money over time.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes
    Available in Spanish

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • Financial habits and norms

  • Singing a song about saving

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students discuss the importance of saving money and sing a song about saving.

    Key information

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

    Building block

    • Executive function
    • 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

  • Puzzling out your savings future

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)

    Using an origami children’s puzzle, students will choose an item, a time frame, and a dollar amount to determine how long they need to save before they can buy that item.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
    Activity duration:
    45-60 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Learning to save with Money Monsters

    Updated

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

    Students listen to a story about saving money and then apply their learning using paper puppets.

    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

  • Coloring your savings

    Updated

    Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1)

    Students color pictures of dollar bills to show how much they’d need to save to buy different items.

    Key information

    Topic:
    Save and invest (Saving for short-term goals), Spend (Buying things)
    Activity duration:
    15-20 minutes

    Building block

    • Financial habits and norms

  • Saving for now and later

    Updated

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

    Students learn about the importance of saving, explore the difference between short-term and long-term goals, and then set their own savings goals.

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