Ah the money tree. You know, that fictional thing that children everywhere somehow think exists within families – money simply appears, money is spent (not enough on things for them, they say), and more money appears. I wish I lived in a world where that actually happened but we all know life isn’t like that.
Teaching my kids about money has been interesting. My son, at 7, understands that mom and dad work to “get money to buy things” but is blown away when we explain to him how much things like our mortgage, van payment, or other things actually cost.
My daughter, at 4, has no concept of money so when we had the opportunity to try out a FREE App from RBC Canada called Learning Money With Leo (specifically for children ages 3-6) I thought this would be a great opportunity to start teaching her about money.
The App itself took no time at all to install on our iPad (you of course can use it on the iPhone too) and after entering Nevaeh’s name (you can have more than one child use the App) we were on our way.
There are 5 games on the App and all help children recognize coins of different denominations – though with the recent news that we’re eliminating pennies in Canada, perhaps the App will need an update soon? 
Along with the games, there’s also a Read-Along Book and a Coloring Book. My kids love coloring apps on the iPad so this part of the Learning Money With Leo App was a hit for sure.
Nevaeh’s favorite of the 5 games is Gather The Coins where she can tilt the iPad itself to move a spaceship around to collect coins in space.
The Sort The Coins game is also really good for teaching children to differentiate between one coin and another.
Children are rewarded for their game play with coins and they can then use these coins to buy virtual stickers in the store for their virtual sticker book. Nevaeh was so excited when she realized this and promptly spend all the coins she had – no surprise there!
It was a great teaching moment for her though – she learned that she had to do “work” to gain the coins and then she had to be decisive on what to spend them on.
You can download the App for free right here.
I hope your little ones have as much fun as mine is as I’m typing this right now! Hopefully the money tree myth can disappear from your house too. If you happen to discover one exists, give me a call (I’d love to invest!)
In the spirit of learning about money, 1 of my Canadian readers is going to win a $50 RBC Visa Gift Card! Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you splurge with the gift card – it never hurts once in awhile.
The kids are older now but we always spent a lot of time discussing the value of money. From couponing to saving money on hydro by turning off lights etc. We even enrolled the two oldest kids in a money class held by a local investing group specifically for kids.
We teach the kids about ways to save money..be it through piggy banks, bank acounts, using coupons, looking through flyers etc
to teach kids the value of money we got them to make their own little piggy banks, also we have 3 differnet banks, we divide their allowence up 3 ways, savings, spending, and school.
My parents always taught me to save and to always have a rainy day fund.
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We opened up accounts at the local store that accepted gently used children’s clothing and toys on consignment. Instead of putting the accounts in my name, each of our sons had a separate account of their own. Whenever they outgrew something or was tired of a particular toy, they would take the items to the consignment store. When the stuff sold, their accounts were credited with the money and they were allowed to spend the money or save it in their bank accounts. It was the best way to teach them 2 things:
* the value of money
* recycling used items that were still in good shape but they no longer needed.
This is a wonderful idea, and would help my daughter to let go of some of her belongins that she just cant seem to part with.
I teach my boys You have to work to make money, and save for things you want! I also show them how to save money by using coupons and sales!
My children did chores to earn an allowance. They are taught they can spend a third on whatever they wanted, a third for savings and the last third they save for charity of their choice.
We teach our kids about money by rewarding them when they do good deeds or do chores with money and then teaching them how much things cost in the store and having them spend their money on things they want. They learn that you have to earn money.
In our household we try to teach our daughter that money does not just magically appear from a machine. She collects and saves coins in a “counting money jar” and then rolls up the coins and deposits them into her bank account. She has a bank card and bank book and can see how much of her own money is in the account and can watch it go down with each withdrawal. She has to think about her purchases and decide if it makes sense to use her money on something frivolous while she is saving for somethng else.
I give them a piggy bank.
I teach them not to spend more than what they have.
we are just starting out with an allowance. They get to keep some for spending, put some in the piggy for saving and we have a jar for charity (they wanted to help babies, so we’ll save for the Basics for Babies campaign at Christmas so they can take it there themselves) We are trying to show them that if they save for a few weeks, they have enough for something better than the small thing they could get in the moment.
We have provided allowance and made them save for items they wanted to buy. They need to know the value of money.
my son’s 2, so we haven’t had to teach him yet… but i want to teach him that from whatever he makes/gets, some has to be saved and some given to charity.
My children earn an allowance and therefore appreciate the money they earn a little better
We’ve taught our almost 3 year old the names of each coin and to recognize them based on the picture on the back. He only sort of understands the importance of keeping his money safe in his piggy bank. Can’t wait to show him this app in the morning!
My 3 yr old is just starting to earn “coins” for doing chores. This is such a fun app shes going to love playing the games while learning about saving and identifying the money.
I taught my son to save his money and that has turned into a household joke. He really likes to save. Once he went to an out of town hockey game with relatives, he took $50, was gone three days and came home with $48. (He said he bought his uncle a soft drink.)
we talk about money a lot, my son keeps a savings account and a spending account. When he receives money it has to be split into both accounts.
I don’t have kids of my own yet, but I know my parents taught me when I was very young because I don’t really remember learning about it.