Find activities that can help you teach and nurture the building blocks of financial capability across the curriculum.
These classroom activities can be completed within a single class period. Each activity comes with a teacher guide and supporting student material, so it’s easy to implement whether you’re an experienced personal finance teacher, integrating financial literacy into another subject area, or supplementing your existing financial education curriculum.
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136 activities
136 activities
Calculating the numbers in your paycheck
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students review a pay stub from a sample paycheck to understand the real-world effect of taxes and deductions on the amount of money they receive.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Choosing the best cell phone plan for you
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students research the features and costs of cell phones and cell phone plans and use a decision matrix to compare options and determine the best one for their needs, wants, and budget.
Key information
Topic:
Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Creating a buying plan
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students practice creating a buying plan and apply this strategy to provide buying advice to others.
Key information
Topic:
Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Creating a savings first aid kit
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students learn the importance of developing an emergency savings fund to deal with unexpected challenges and unplanned expenses.
Key information
Topic:
Save and invest (Banking options, Building emergency savings, Choosing how to save, Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Meeting your future self
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students imagine their lives in 10 years and write a fill-in-the-blank letter from their future selves to their current selves.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Learning about careers, Making money), Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Picturing what you’re saving for
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (K-1), Elementary school (2-3), Elementary school (4-5)
Students draw pictures of a savings goal and discuss the importance of saving money over time.
Key information
Topic:
Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Protecting your identity online
Updated
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8)
Students answer true-or-false questions about safe online behaviors and consider ways to protect themselves online.
Key information
Topic:
Protect (Managing risk, Preventing fraud and identity theft)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Reflecting on needs versus wants
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
By thinking about their own expenses, students explore how differentiating between needs and wants can inform daily financial decisions and rules to live by.
Key information
Topic:
Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Saving each payday
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students use a real-world simulation to learn how saving a little money each payday can be a successful strategy for saving.
Key information
Topic:
Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save, Saving for long-term goals, Saving for short-term goals)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Spending scenarios
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students consider everyday spending decisions by working through real-world scenarios.
Key information
Topic:
Spend (Budgeting, Buying things)
Activity duration:
15-20 minutes
Available in Spanish
Building block
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Activities align with the My Money Five principles introduced by the statutorily created federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.
