Kick-Start Financial Literacy by Teaching Coins to Kids
Financial literacy programs that target preschool-aged children are few and far between. Yet research has shown that money management skills taught during childhood, and reinforced by parents until they become habits, may be the most important influence on a person’s financial behavior later in life. Teaching coins to kids is a valuable first step because learning how coins work gives kids perspective on the basic money management concepts of trade and exchange.
The Money Adventures of Cash Cow and Pig E. Bank is a fun student guide developed by the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC). When teaching kids about money, worksheets and activities are some of the best tools for helping them learn. Cash Cow and Pig E. Bank are characters depicted in rebus-style format to help kids have fun while they pick up the basics of personal finance.
It’s easy to find out how to teach kids to count money. The NFEC’s Preschool-2nd Grade Financial Capability Curriculum provides some tips. They recommend introducing children to one piece of money at a time. For example, start by giving kids some pennies. Explain that a penny is worth one cent, and have them practice counting the pennies, handling them, and stacking them in piles of ten. Then go on to nickels and have them practice counting in fives, and so on.
When you’re teaching kids about money it’s also important to help them grasp how much each coins is worth relative to other coins. The NFEC suggests explaining the purpose of money in terms of how many coins a child would need to purchase a given item. Pick an item that costs one dollar, and then have kids count out how many of each coin they would need to buy the item.
Teaching coins and their value to kids has value to provide them with a good, basic understanding of money concepts. That background will give them a head start toward positive financial futures.