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
Mapping your money journey (elementary school)
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5)
Students complete a short survey to find out about their current money skills and explore things they can do to manage money better.
Key information
Topic:
Earn, Save and invest, Protect, Spend, Borrow
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Mapping your money journey (middle and high school)
Updated
Ideal for: Middle school (6-8), High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students complete a short survey to find out about their current money skills and explore things they can do to manage money better.
Key information
Topic:
Earn, Save and invest, Protect, Spend, Borrow
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Storing my savings
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students read descriptions of common places to store their money and weigh the benefits and risks of each to decide which one(s) fit their financial goals.
Key information
Topic:
Save and invest (Banking options, Choosing how to save, Investing)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Becoming familiar with taxes
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students match tax types to definitions and then apply their knowledge to tax scenarios.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Paying taxes)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Building block
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Understanding jobs, teens, and taxes
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students read a handout about taxes and respond to questions to explore the relationship between working and taxes.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
Activity duration:
15-20 minutes
Building block
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Understanding taxes and your paycheck
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students analyze statements about taxes to better understand how taxes affect people’s paychecks.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Getting paid, Making money, Paying taxes)
Activity duration:
45-60 minutes
Building block
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Understanding redlining
Updated
Ideal for: High school (9-10), High school (11-12)
Students read a handout about the practice of redlining and answer questions about its impact on individuals and communities.
Key information
Topic:
Save and invest (Saving for long-term goals), Spend (Buying things), Borrow (Getting loans)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Drawing your own business comic strip
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students explore entrepreneurship by reading a story about entrepreneurs and drawing a comic strip about starting a business.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Learning about careers, Making money)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Financial habits and norms
- Financial knowledge and decision-making skills
Exploring entrepreneurship
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a book about starting a business, think of an idea for a product they can create or improve, and design a plan for selling it.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Learning about careers, Making money)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Executive function
- Financial habits and norms
Exploring opportunity costs
Updated
Ideal for: Elementary school (4-5), Middle school (6-8)
Students read a book about the opportunity costs of starting a business, play a fill-in-the-blank game, and discuss things they could give up so they can have something else.
Key information
Topic:
Earn (Becoming an entrepreneur, Learning about careers, Making money), Spend (Buying things)
Activity duration:
75-90 minutes
Building block
- Executive function
- 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.
