Most of us teach Social Studies in the afternoon. By this time, students are often tired and distracted. Teachers struggle to make abstract concepts fun and engaging. Personal Finance Games for Elementary Students are a win-win! If you decide to use them, your afternoons will fly by as your students look forward to Social Studies time!
Why Personal Finance is So Important
Americans are not good at managing their money. Studies have shown that most adults do not understand the economic concepts they need to manage their portfolio. In an effort to bridge the game, most states have beefed up their Social Studies Curriculum in Economics. Elementary teachers cover the basic economic concepts of Spending, Saving, Earning, Needs & Wants and Economic Choices. Some of these are abstract concepts. It can be tricky to come up with authentic activities to cover your objectives in the time you have in your schedule.
Why Financial Literacy Games
Since morning is mostly input for the students during Reading and Math, Social Studies is the perfect time for student output! Students can showcase the learning as they practice speaking and listening skills while learning how the community works around them.
1. Finance Games Encourage Student Engagement
All teachers know the joy on students’ faces when a game is announced. There is no easier motivation. Classroom games encourage higher student engagement than any other form of activity. They encourage shy students to take chances to join in. They motivate the harder to please students.
Financial games present concepts in a fun, non-threatening way. They lower stress levels so kids can easily make connections to abstract concepts. Economic Games help students practice what they know and realize what they don’t.
2. Money Games Improve Dollars and Sense
Students need to understand how money works. To make this happen, they need to spend time managing it. This is a great case for setting up a token economy in your classroom, using real money. To read more about this, go to my token economy post.
The most important objective to teach is to making good financial choices. Kids need to pit their endless list of wants against a budget. They need to experience making economic choices individually, and in small groups. Parents will thank you for helping their children understand that there is only so much money!
3. Economic Games Foster Social Learning & Teamwork
Economic games practice much more than personal finance skills. Games teach cooperation, grit, problem-solving, and compromise. These soft-skills are important for student careers and for workers in the work place. Many younger students are social learners. They learn better when discussing and thinking out loud. Getting your students up and moving brings your classroom to life. Student are happy, behavior goes down.
Choosing the Finance Game
For Kindergarten, I usually play the game with the whole group. I assign different students to fulfill the task with the class on the carpet. In First Grade, I make this call according to the time of year for my economic unit. For second grade, I always use small group. There are many personal finance games to choose from!
If you don’t have time to start from scratch, and want to take a look at some ready-made games, click on one of the covers below. You can look at the preview to check out the other features of the game.
This game has students decide what they would pack to go on a vacation on a tropical island. They get to bring food, play things, and clothes. Each category goes into the slot provided. The game can be played in pairs, small group, or as a class.
This game is about budgets and money management. The small group acts like a family. They make choices from brochures: Entertainment, Food, House, Car, & Family Fun. They have to fit it all into the budget.
This is a self-correcting Google Slides game about the difference between Spending, Saving, and Earning. This is my most popular game.
Jacque Jones
Taught Kinder-1st and 2nd grade for 38 years in California and Kansas. Loves everything Gilmore Girls, Pikmin or Kindle
Teacher-Author "Social Studies Matters"