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.
We encourage our kids to save their money to purchase items they really want. I also show them the value of their money with talking about buying things when they are on sale insead of at regular price.
Always encourage our kids to save their money for the things that they want to purchase. Also like to give them chores around the house to help them understand that you have to work (even if it is emptying the dishwasher) to earn money!
We give a weekly allowance and we have separate jars. One jar for savings and one jar for spending.
We take a percentage of the allowance and put it in savings. This can be for something they want but cannot afford right now or a bigger purchase later on or it could be just to save. But a percentage comes off of every allowance.
They have to be taught that money is earned through hard work, so they get age appropriate tasks and get paid just like a job, and they have to save for what they want.
We try to tell our kids that is it something you really want or need to purchase. As sometimes we spend money on things that we do not need.
silverneon2000 at yahoo dot com
I try to teach my kids about saving money and not wasting it!
I teach my son to save for things he wants,,not to spend all his money at once..
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The kids are given the money to pay for their own purchase and are there to verify the correct change
Kids are older now, but when they were small, they would just tell us to go to “The Machine” to get money to buy them things they wanted. We tried with their allowances to show them how hard it was to spread the money around each week.
I haven’t really done anything yet to help teach my 3-yr-old nephew about money, but I will definitely share this app with my sister! I did open an RESP for him, and he will one day learn the value of that.
Since my two kids are still very young (infant and 2 years old) so we haven’t really started to teach them yet. But I do have a piggy bank so that my elder one can start putting coins in there and then tell her that once she has accumulated certain money she can buy one thing that she like
I have yet to teach
I have had a bit of a rough time teaching my youngest about money. Recently, he asked for me to purchase something and when I said I didn’t have money for it he replied: “Just go get some money at the bank machine.” He seriously thought that there was an abundance of money there whenever needed…We have lately started doing the chores for money plan and making him save for things he wants and hopefully he will catch on soon. 🙂
We haven’t done anything with the kids yet (they’re two) but we’ve created an educational fund and will definitely be teaching them about saving.
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we set up a bank account very early on so that they know that saving is good!
My daughter is still pretty young but we have taught her how to save her money by using a piggy bank and then saving up for special purchase.
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I always reinforced with my daughter there is a big difference between “wants” and “needs”. She has learned her money priorities this way and is now benefiting her.
I still have to start teaching 🙂
We have started my daughter’s education savings plan, I still have to start teaching though.
I let son kept the bottles/cans deposit, he kept in his wallet. I asked him make a list of things what he wanted to buy & explained to him the difference between “want” / “need”. When he has enough money for an item, I ask him if he want to save more for a more expensive item on his list or settle for the one he has enough money for.
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Link for tweet today: https://twitter.com/#!/benitozk/status/186117276045553664
I don’t have kids but I like the idea of using an allowance to teach about money. I like those piggy banks that have 3 sections-one for spending, one for sharing and one for saving. Using an allowance to spend, save and share will help to teach the basics of money management.
We have an allowance system that provides the kids with $5 per week – only given upon completion of weekly chores (as assigned by us) and attendance to their martial arts class twice per week.
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I thought it very important to teach them that most money is earned through work and that a portion must be saved
Teaching them about credit at an early age can help them in the future – I mean look at how many adults are far into debt and are miserable because of it. Robing peter to pay paul isn’t a good way to live.
When giving allowance, have them put something in their bank and leave it there!
We have opened the Leo account but our daughter is a little to small yet to start saving (2)
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I try to model that you can’t always get what you want, espcially in the store. I might say I would really like this candy bar but I amm going to save $$ for….
I have giving my daughter an allowance for doing chores like making her bed. I also talk to my daughter about money and bills and teach her she has to work and save for what she wants
thanks
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My son is still a baby but when he is old enough, we’ll implement an allowance so he will learn how to budget.
my girls are still young but the other week I gave them each $5 to spend on whatever they wanted and it was interesting watching the decision making process. They had to really think about what they REALLY wanted.
I hope to start an allowance so they can learn about saving for bigger items
We have a chore chart with values beside the chores. If he wants to earn money he can pick a chore and knows what he will get for it.
We let them buy some things they want with their own money.
Thanks for the giveaway 🙂
We give an allowance but with expectations. Chores, no whining, etc.
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My kids are grown now but I used to give them money to buy their own clothes etc.. so they could see how much the ‘cool’ things really cost.
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I don’t have kids but I think it’s really important to teach kids about the value of money and CASH not credit early.
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We have explained the basics of money and how it is earned, spent and saved. Our kids earn an allowance and decide how to spend or save it. They are both pretty good savers now because they have learned that saving money gives you the freedom to buy what you really want in the future.
we’ve never had a whole lot of money so my kids have had to learn that there are things we need and things we want, and sometimes , times like Christmas, we only get the things we need. It can be a heartbreaking lesson for both adults and children to learn, but I really detest those people who post online about not knowing what they are going to do in Jan when the cc bills start piling up. I don’t even have a cc, let alone to admit to misusing it that badly!! I don’t want to raise my children to be that adult EVER
we have been trying lately to explain the concept of charity and giving to others less fortunate. We are be no means well off but there is always someone who needs it more. We also talk about saving for when they are bigger and want to go to school.
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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.