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How to Teach Your Preschooler Financial Literacy

How to Teach Your Preschooler Financial Literacy and start setting good financial habits for life!

Bartosz Budrewicz | Shutterstock

 

You are probably wondering, how in the world can I teach a 3 or 4 year old financial literacy? Preschool aged children are the perfect age to teach this too because in their world, everything is fun, new and exciting. Plus there is no better time to start setting the foundation for good financial habits that will last a lifetime.  The key to teaching your preschooler financial literacy is to make everything fun!

Learning Financial Literacy through Play

It’s the little things in life that make a big difference. Letting your preschooler pay for something at the store teaches them the value of money, how to count and gives them a sense of accomplishment. It can be as simple as letting them pay for a candy bar or a cart of groceries. This kind of learning is fun and appealing especially to the independent 3 to 4 year olds.

Give Children Opportunities to Make Money

Whether doing chores around the house, cleaning their own room, or helping clean the yard, give your preschooler plenty of opportunities to earn money. Teaching them that the work they do is rewarded will help them to understand working for what you have, the value of money and a sense of responsibility to the working world around them.

Get a Piggy Bank

There are many options for your preschooler to make money even at such a young age. Teaching them to save their pennies from the tooth fairy or their allowance from cleaning us their room are great ways of teaching financial literacy in a fun, but life-lasting way.

Teach Them to Save

As a parent, it is so tempting to get your child everything their heart desires whether for Christmas, a birthday or just while out shopping, but it is also important to teach your child how to get what they want on their own. If your preschooler is begging for that new toy, give them opportunities to make money in their piggy bank and save up for what they want. This will not only teach them to save, the value of money and to count, but will teach them patience and accomplishment.

Encourage Them

Encourage your child to count their money once or twice a week. Counting money in their piggy bank teaches them what the value of coins and dollars are and shows them the more they save, the more they have.

Above all, keep it fun. Make making money, paying for things at the store and counting money something fun for you and your child.

Laurie P

Sunday 14th of February 2016

We've just started to teach her to count her money.....

Elva Roberts

Thursday 11th of February 2016

I think this is a very sensible and useful to teach young children about using money and working for it. It will probably and hopefully instill in them a work ethic at a young age. I think a good work ethic is so important in whatever path they take in life.

Tina @AMindfulFairytale

Thursday 11th of February 2016

Great tips! My 3 year loves to count her money but we haven't ventured into actually learning what each coin is yet. This post has motivated me to do that! Thank you!