The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) offers the award-winning High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP), a free and flexible curriculum that has been proven to change students’ knowledge, actions and self-confidence about managing their money.
Money & Me is a hands-on experience that teaches teenagers the basics of money and how to make it work for them. The program covers budgeting, credit advantages and pitfalls, savings and checking accounts, how to save for a big purchase and investing for the future.
The brass|Student Program provides high schools with access to brass|Magazine, a personal finance publication written by young adults that delivers relevant content for classroom discussions and activities. The program also includes online resource centers for teachers and students, and the Credit Unions for College scholarship database.

LifeSmarts…the Ultimate Consumer Challenge is a game show style competition for teenagers designed to better prepare them as responsible consumers in today’s dynamic marketplace. Questions cover personal finance, consumer rights and responsibilities, health and safety, technology and the environment.

Biz Kid$ is a fun, 30-minute PBS television series for kids about making and managing money. It highlights young entrepreneurs who have turned hobbies into successful businesses, raised funds for good causes and much more.

The Kid’s Cash Kit & Caboodle includes practical, hands-on tools to teach children and their families the basics of money management using the concepts of saving, spending and sharing.

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Kid’s Cash Kit and Caboodle

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Suggested Classroom Activities For Credit Unions

>Activities

kids cash kitThe Kid’s Cash Kit and Caboodle student activities will consist of age appropriate presentations that may include a variety of formats. Below are suggested activities, as well as questions to lead discussions about saving, spending and sharing. Please feel free to modify and enhance these suggested activities. Also, credit unions have the flexibility to create their own presentations.

If you need recommendations for appropriate books or CDs, please contact us.

Suggested Activities

Read a story that highlights the save, spend and share theme. Then explain the purpose of the moneyboxes and the poster. Assemble one moneybox and use ten dimes to demonstrate the concept of spliting that dollar among the three boxes. 

Explain the value of money (coins versus bills) including hands-on activities with real or play money. Then explain the purpose of the moneyboxes and the poster. Assemble one moneybox and use ten dimes to demonstrate the concept of spliting that dollar among the three boxes. 

Conduct a group activity that includes preparing a budget and making decisions about saving spending and sharing based on different scenarios. For example, one student earns an allowance of $15 a week doing chores around the house.  He is planning to save for a laptop and for college expenses like books and pizza money, his parents also ask him to pay for his portion of the cell phone bill ($20/month), and once a year he makes a donation to the local animal shelter. How much does he make a month; how much should he save for the laptop and how much for college, how much should he donate to the animal shelter?

Discussion Questions

Saving

  • What is saving?
  • Why is saving important?
  • Why do people save?
  • What can happen when people don’t save?
  • What are the benefits of saving?
  • How do people save?
Spending
  • What is spending?
  • Where does our spending money come from?
  • Why do we need to spend?
  • What are good spending habits?
Sharing
  • What is sharing?
  • Why is sharing important?
  • How do we share with others?
  • Who benefits when we share?
  • What causes or charities would you support and why?
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