Fun Ways to Teach Kids About Saving
I’ve teamed up with State Farm® to talk about tips on saving for your child’s education. I received compensation for this post, and all opinions are my own.
As I mentioned in my previous post Tips on Saving for Your Child’s Education it’s never too early to start saving. In fact, the earlier you start, the more advantage you’ll have in the future. Lately, my little three-year-old boy has taken a fascination to money. Because I want to get a head start teaching him the importance of saving for his college education, I’ve decided to start teaching him smart financial habits through these fun activities.
Fun Ways to Teach Kids About Saving
Play restaurant: Set up a pretend restaurant and allow your child to pay the bill with play money.
Give them opportunities to earn money: Starting at a young age, present them with opportunities to start earning money: pulling weeds, taking the trash out, washing dishes, etc.
Create a reward system with play money: Use a reward system in your home where your child can earn play money for good behavior, performing chores, practicing their instruments, etc. Provide different rewards (valued at different prices) that they can purchase with their play money. This can help teach them the value of saving up their money for larger rewards.
Involve them when budgeting: Find ways to help them understand the importance of staying within a budget. Have them help you pick out groceries and hand the money to the cashier. Give them a “clothes budget” for the year and allow them to choose which clothes they’d like to buy, but help them understand that the items must stay in budget.
Get them a piggy bank: Give your child a fun and safe place to store their hard earned money. Practice counting the money that they put in their piggy bank.
I feel that it’s extremely important to start talking to my son at an early age about the value of saving money; however, when it comes to saving for college, I’m no expert. That’s why sitting down with a State Farm agent was extremely helpful.
When I sat down with Jory Inama, my State Farm agent, I told him of my desires to start saving for my child’s education. He did a great job describing the various options State Farm offers as well as recommending the best plan for my family. He also posed questions such as “What type of school will my son most likely attend?” to help determine the amount of savings needed. To be honest, I didn’t even realize that it was so important to start saving so early. He explained that saving for college takes a lot of time; the earlier you begin, the more help you’ll be able to offer your child.
Because I appreciate the help that my parents were able to give me during my college years, I want to do the same for my children. That’s why teaching my son smart financial habits, as well as saving for college, is so important to me. Be sure to visit a State Farm agent for more information about State Farm products and services.
This post was sponsored by State Farm. For more information on the best financial services for your family, please visit or call a State Farm agent.
What fun! Teaching kids about the meaning of money can be difficult. We are in the process of teaching our son right now 🙂
Oh what great ideas for the little ones! I love the idea of the rewards with play month! That is such a great idea!
Very cool! These are great tips! My parents did similar stuff for us when we were little, and it was such a blessing!
So glad you shared this, my ten year old son needs to know all about saving.
It’s important to teach kids about money from an early age! Learning how to manage it is a lifelong commitment!
It’s never too early to learn valuable life skills like saving. We should all prepare our kids for adulthood.
Teaching kids about money is so very important for their whole life! I’ve recently opened up savings accounts for my kids, which has spurred more open discussion about money and savings.
These are fantastic tips! It’s important for kids to learn the importance of saving and staying within a budget.
You have some great ideas there! When my kids were little, we layed restaurant. It was a fun way to learn about money.
It is so important to teach kids about saving money. These are great tips. I will have to share this with my friends with little ones.
Love these ideas!! Starting teach kids about money at a young age is a great way to help them be successful.
When I was a kid I loved playing with pretend money. Now, my kids play store too with their little cash registers.
We got our kids little divided piggy banks about 2 years ago. We pay them in dimes and they know that they get 80% to spend, 10% to save and 10% for church donation. It’s been a great way to teach them. I love how you said to incorporate a play restaurant. What a fun idea.
Those are great ideas. I especially like the play money reward system. The earlier we can teach our kids about money, the better.
These are some great ideas. I’m all for saving, so I want to make sure my daughters do the same thing. There are so many wonderful ways they can save up too.
We love talking money with the kids, and getting them to save has always been a big part of bringing them up right. With that said, I especially liked your idea of playing “Restaurant” with the kids and having money be part of the game. Too many times I’ll hear “You can have it, because it’s free!” which always feels like a cop-out for not dealing with money.
These are all great ideas for teaching your kids about money and how to handle it. I really liked the idea about playing restaurant. It’s fun for both of you!
I give my son and daughter opportunities to earn money by doing chores and helping them save for things they want. It is such a good way to teach kids how to save.
This is a great idea and it’s a perfect time to start teaching my son!
My kids really don’t have any idea about the value of a dollar. I need to get to work teaching them.
My son has saved all my change for over 2 years, so we brought it to the bank to make him a savings account this month. over $200 saved and we’re going to keep going. Hopefully this helps instill how important saving is. Once he’s old enough he will earn the money through chores.