About this upcoming exhibition
Last spring, we asked kids what they wanted to know about money. The response was overwhelming—a whopping 846 questions! And we answered each and every one of them.
We received questions from Beaver Creek, Yukon to Paradise, Newfoundland and dozens of places in between. The kids asked thoughtful, relevant and, sometimes, complex questions. They wanted to know how money is printed; why it’s different colours; where and how money originated; how cryptocurrencies work and why different countries have different currencies. Many wondered how much money there is in Canada, or even the world.
Of course, kids being kids, there were all sorts of fun questions too:
- Is there a button to press in the bank if there's a robbery like in the movies?
- Why is money dirty?
- Why isn't all money chocolate?
- How can I get my hands on a money printer?
This enthusiastic response to our call for questions has shown us that there is an appetite and a need for financial and economic literacy among young people. Their questions revealed that kids are aware of money at a very early age and that it is important to give them tools to make good financial decisions in the future.
Resources for talking to your kids about money
The Museum has a number of resources to help you keep the conversation going with your kids:
- Check out our blog post Understanding Money: Common Questions.
- Practice counting and exchanging coins and bank notes with our printable play money.
- Make grocery shopping an economics lesson: help your kids prepare a meal plan and shop for ingredients based on a budget with our Economics of Suppertime activity.
- Practice making financial decisions by buying clothing and accessories for avatar puppets with our Avatar Market activity.
What happens next
In the next few months, we’ll be sorting through this archive of questions and answers and building an exhibition from it. We’ll be looking for the subjects that are of most interest to kids and searching out the gaps in their understanding. Stay tuned!