Mary (3.5 yrs) recieved her first allowance this weekend. I felt she was ready to begin learning how to manage money because:
1. she wanted to buy things
2. she wanted to give an offering at church
We decided to give her $.75/week.
She put a quarter in each of three tins (giving, saving, and spending).
This allowance is not tied to her chores.
She took the money out of her giving can to church today and I'll invite her to bring her $.25 in spendinging when we go to the store this week. She has been wanting to buy a gumball at Dillons. For savings, I gave her the choice of saving for a purse or a pair of shoes. She chose a purse. We found a cute blue one at the DAV for $1.50. I took a photo of it and cut it into 6 puzzle pieces. When she put her quarter in savings, I gave her one puzzle piece to put up. This will give her a visual way to see her savings grow toward her goal.
I found a lot of useful ideas about how to get started at Crown Financial Ministries. I especially recommend:
Giving Children an Allowance
Children and Finances Part 1 and Children and Finances Part 2
Very creative idea, Sarah! I especially like the purse into a puzzle part. :)
ReplyDeleteyes...purse = puzzle is fabulous and the handling money concept is a great one. I've been doing a lot of research at work about schools teaching money management and real life skills they need so desperately
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