Spring semester is a great time for teachers to bring lessons about kids financial planning into the classroom. For many students, summer break is a chance to learn how to earn and spend their own money. By earning cash through part-time jobs, chores, and allowances, students can begin to learn lifelong lessons about spending, saving, and managing money.
Why is kids financial planning an important concept to teach children?
While many of us wish our kids would stay young forever, we all realistically know that they will be out in the real world more quickly than we can imagine. It is our responsibility as parents and educators to prepare children for the often scary real world. Teaching kids financial planning at a young age will better prepare them for when they venture out on their own. Moreover, kids financial planning can prevent overspending and credit card debt, and give kids a better appreciation and respect for how difficult it can be to properly budget income and expenses.
As parents, teaching kids to divide money received as gifts, allowance, or even a paycheck, into “save, spend, and share” categories demonstrates that while it is fine to spend a bit, it is important to save as well to help others who may not be as fortunate. This is a key concept when teaching about kids financial planning. One of my favorite resources for helping kids save, spend, and share is this Moonjar Bank, as it makes it easy and fun for kids to see their funds grow.
Teachers have a unique opportunity to prepare students for financial planning early, and Scholastic has partnered with T. Rowe Price to promote a program called Money Confident Kids to help make this easy and fun! This program focuses on bringing important financial lessons to kids early in their lives, which in turn will help their financial futures!
Here is information about an app that you can use to help teach your students and kids financial planning at even very young ages. Helping students to be better financial planners is an important responsibility, and this app makes kids get excited about learning (which, as we all know, makes them want to learn)!
Kids Financial Literacy App: T. Rowe Price’s Star Banks Adventure® Game
The Star Banks Adventure® game provides students with an entertaining, engaging, and empowering learning experience that develops their knowledge of financial literacy concepts and skills. With the new Classroom Mode of the Star Banks Adventure® game, teachers now have the opportunity to use a game to complement their financial literacy program! The Classroom Mode of the game is easy to integrate into current programs or as a stand-alone enrichment opportunity. To learn more about the Teacher Dashboard and how easy it is to use in your classroom, click here.
With the help of Odal, an alien guide, students must stop Overlord Zek, the evil mastermind bent on causing FINANCIAL CHAOS! Students solve puzzles, answer quiz questions, and use power-ups to triumph. The game requires strategic planning and wise investing to reach financial goals in order to defeat Overlord Zek. To see more specifics about the game’s objectives please click here.
Financial Literacy Concepts in the Game:
• Setting a Financial Goal
• Rate of Return
• Prioritizing Spending
• Inflation and Time Horizons
• Asset Allocation
Four Easy Steps to Get Started:
1. Visit: http://www.scholastic.com/mck/starbanks/ and sign in to Teacher Dashboard
2. Create a Classroom
3. Have students play the game either online at www.starbanksadventure.com or by downloading the app. Instruct them to select the option: Classroom Mode – Student Login. Students will need both the Classroom Name created by the teacher/parent and their unique login credentials.
4. Watch them learn and have fun at the same time!
T. Rowe Price and Scholastic have made it easy and fun to teach kids financial planning. You’ve got nothing to lose, and tons to gain, so give it a try today! I’d love to hear how this app works in your classroom; please leave a comment sharing your experience. Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered for a chance to win a “Moonjar Classic Moneybox: Save, Spend, Share” bank! Winner will be randomly selected on July 31, 2017.
Please note: this post is sponsored by T. Rowe Price and Scholastic. The ideas and opinions are all my own. MONEY CONFIDENT KIDS and STAR BANKS ADVENTURE are registered trademarks of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.