How to make learning about money and budgeting fun for the little ones
As the use of card and contactless payments rise, those growing up today are more accustomed to the idea of digital money rather than physical notes and coins.
However, physical cash can still be an important part of money management. Especially as more households opt to use cash to track their spending in the cost of living crisis.
So we’ve come up with 10 fun activities to keep your little ones entertained while helping them become money masters – aimed at those aged 3-7 years old. And you can tailor the activities to their interests to help them better understand.
Here’s our take on the suggested tasks.
Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.
1. Set up a tuck shop at home
Creating your own tuck shop over the school holidays is a great way to teach your little ones about cash.
Whether it’s fruit, Frubes, juice boxes, crisps or chocolate, give each item in your snack stash a price. (You can set the rates according to your child’s understanding of money.)
You’ll then need to give your children a budget so that they can make a purchase when they want a snack.
For kids totally new to cash, start off with simple small coin amounts e.g. 1p, 2p, 5p,10p. And once they’ve mastered this, you can move on to larger amounts that need change.
Make your own money
If using physical cash isn’t possible, you can try getting crafty and make your own money. You can keep the currency as pounds or try making your own house currency.
If you opt for a new currency try and keep the values the same for example 1p would have an equivalent coin in your currency (just a different name!)
2. Play spare change snap
Spare change tends to mount up over time in purses, sofas, the car or even a designated coin pot.
If you have any spare coins lying around, gather them together for a game of spare coin snap with the kid.
You can play by asking your child to sort the coins into matching shapes, sizes or colours. It’s a fun way to introduce them to different coins and their values.
Featured investing offer
Customer rating
3.8/5
- Offerfree £50 in fractional shares*
- Annual fee£0
- Investment stylesShares, funds or ready-made portfolios
- Minimum deposit$50
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 3% on balances up to $50,000, 3.8% on balances over this
- Fractional shares Yes
- Foreign exchange fee 0.7%
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees, which cost on average ~0.16% per year, with additional market-spread effects up to 0.05%
- Offer You need to sign up, verify your account and deposit at least £200 to get the free assets. ISA deposits aren't included in the £200 requirement to get the offer.
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes, FRN 583263
- Risk warning The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. ISA powered by Moneyfarm. ISA rules apply. UK residents only.
- Accounts available General investment account, stocks and shares ISA (additional fees apply)
Get the best of our money saving content every week, straight to your inbox
Plus, new Quidco customers get a high paying £18 welcome offer
3. Create a coin caterpillar
This one is for art fans! To create a coin caterpillar you’ll need to line up 5-10 coins in a row (they don’t have to be even or in order). Next place a sheet of paper over the top and use a crayon to rub over the coins.
This will create an imprint on the page and eventually reveal your own cool coin caterpillar.
You can then add features like a face, some legs and antennae to bring your coin caterpillar to life.
You could also ramp up the challenge by asking your child to add up the value of their caterpillar.
4. Be a checkout cash champion
What happens at the checkout in shops tends to go over children’s heads – as they’re usually not tall enough to see what’s going on.
The next time you hit the shops, try to get your young one involved in making a cash payment.
Whether it’s simply talking through the payment process and counting out your change. Or, for older children, getting them to pay for the items and interact with cash firsthand can be a great way to learn and build their confidence managing money too.
Our podcast
Listen to Cash Chats, our award-winning podcast, presented by Steve Alderton and Editor James Andrews.
Episodes every Monday.
5. Try a school holidays pocket money savings challenge
Giving your child the chance to manage their own money can help them better understand key financial skills like budgeting and saving.
The school holidays could be a good chance to trial giving them pocket money to help boost their money skills.
You could also help them learn about setting money goals (like saving for a new toy) and making a plan to put their pocket money away so they can buy it.
Adding on incentives like, paying a bonus if they reach their target helps encourage their savings habits too.
6. Play supermarket sweep
Heading to a supermarket (especially over the school holidays) can feel daunting. But this cash challenge is a sure fire way to make the experience more fun.
Getting your little ones involved in the shop – whether that’s making a list and helping to budget or being on price watch duty around the store – can help them learn on the go.
If doing a full shop isn’t possible you could try shopping around one specific recipe. For example if you wanted to make cupcakes, getting your little ones to come up with a list in a certain budget and then hitting the store together to buy everything and pay in cash.
You could even take this a step further and get them to sell any treats they make for their mini tuck shop (see activity no.1 for more details!)
7. Give your cash a home
Having a designated place to keep your physical cash safe, like a purse or wallet, is really important for teaching children how to be responsible with money.
You can buy them a small wallet or purse. Or, even try getting them to make their own to add a personal touch.
8. Head to the arcade
Arcades may seem like all fun and games, but they’re also the perfect environment to help kids learn about money.
For example, using coins in a slot machine can help them learn about the value of different coins. Playing on different machines can also help them understand the concept of budgeting and making sure they have enough money to use the ones they want.
Allowing them to help you get change from a note, where possible, can also help them understand that the same value of money can be held in different forms.
9. Open a children’s bank account
Opening a child bank account or children’s savings account can help them understand managing money over the school holidays.
It’s a great way to introduce them to the concept of banking, how it works and why having an account is important for managing money.
You could tie this into some of the other cash challenges, for example, showing them how to deposit their summer holiday pocket money (see challenge no. 5).
10. Make summer holiday chores fun
You can help your kids learn more about the idea of earning money by offering to pay them for chores they do over the summer break.
They can put their money towards their savings or to help them budget for things they’d like to buy during the school holidays.
Generally, this activity helps them become more independent with money and helps them take responsibility for keeping it safe and reaching their financial goals.
