Economics for Kids Pays Dividends

 The best way to teach your kids about taxes is to eat one third of their ice cream cone .—Bill Murray

Teaching Economics Is Essential - Walk Them Through!

Teaching economics doesn’t need to be disgusting, but it is essential. Here are a few suggestions for teaching your children about making, managing, keeping, and making money work for them.  

Be Concrete

  Help children count out the exact amount of money for a taxable item and tell them they are going to learn a lesson at the checkout counter. When they pay for it, the clerk will tell children they do not have enough and must pay for tax. Digging out more money helps children remember the lesson. On the way home explain all the ways everyone pays taxes and where local, state, and federal taxes go. There are income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, fees, property taxes, licenses, internet, phone, utility taxes and more. Show children “taxes” on your bills.  

  How is the money used? Taxes pay for government 

How Is the Money Used?

buildings, parks, libraries, services like plowing roads, city, state, and federal workers like teachers, librarians, waste disposal, police, and fire workers. Family members may work for the government, receive a government payment or pension.

  Young children can practice earning money and managing it by playing toy store. They can learn that businesses and people have many expenses. When finished, count the till and take out about half for all fees, licenses, personal, employee’s, local, state, and federal taxes. Then take out more than a fourth for employees’ wages and other payments, utilities, insurance, and cost of materials. What is left is theirs.

Labor Equals Payment

  According to economists, the earlier we attach work to production and pay, the earlier we teach children the economic principle of trading labor for capital (money). No matter how small the amount of birthday and holiday money children have, set up four jars. Label them save, spend, 

Labor & Investment - Build Savings

invest, and donate. Savvy Pig on-line has divided piggy banks for sale. 3jars.com has good explanations of these principles for kids.  “Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?” by Richard Maybury gives a clear explanation of economics for everyone third grade and above and the many versions of Monopoly are good economics games.

 For older kids the stock market site howthemarketworks.com has good explanations. You can explain how your 401K ‘s, union, pensions, and individuals are investing in the stock market. With your help children can do a” fantasy invest” and watch a stock like Disney. 

  Other concepts like how compounding interest can hurt or help them, the investment rule of 72, and opportunity cost are useful. Check Google for quick explanations.

  You can teach children to charge interest when they lend money to siblings. The youngest usually cleans up. For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com; wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons; Pinterest and Facebook since 2009.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling photos

Playing Store and Learning Economics

Teach Personal Finance - A Lifetime Lesson

Playing store with preschoolers teaches personal finance lessons of saving, spending, wait until later, and opportunity cost. These are lifelong lessons that go beyond shopping.

 Turn a shoe box into a cash register. Then add some real or play money, things to buy and sell, small box attached to a string for a scanner, shopping bags, sale signs, and clerk’s name tag. Children can draw signs or make a little newspaper ad. 

Learning Economics

  Practice playing store at home or children’s museum play store. Stuffed animals and dolls can go “shopping” with you and also learn to make wise economic choices. 

You can make rectangles of paper marked with $1 for easy counting and bring a handful of pennies for the register. For store merchandise use Play Dough or real food items, toys, Lego construction, books, dolls, stuffed animals, anything around the house.

  Together put prices on items and display them in columns and rows on a counter top. Sort materials according to categories--certain colored cars go together, etc. Keep it simple. Each item is worth $1 or a few cents to start. Have a conversation about what items will sell the best and why? Conversation is a key ingredient in preparing children to read.

Opportunity Cost

   Now take turns choosing items and checking out. Purposely, have enough money for some items and not enough for others so you are forced to make choices. Play act that you are disappointed you don’t have enough money but handle that disappointment well.  

Take Your Dolls & Stuffed Animals Shopping

Practice saying, “Oh well, maybe later. I will save up my money.” What a useful economic phrase to teach! It’s also a good way to teach preschool children to work through a disappointment without a tantrum.

  Adults are teaching opportunity cost which is choosing one thing between several equally desired ones. This important concept teaches children that sometimes you can’t have everything you want. Sometimes you must give up the opportunity or delay it for another time.

   Think of other real situations to role play. Look at newspaper ads and have a sale. Make some printed signs and drawings to keep every time you play. If there is only one left and it’s very popular, increase the price (supply and demand).

  All of this involves thinking out loud and conversation. Most important, keep the activity fun and short.

Role Play with Real Situations

 When interest wanes, pack up the store for later. The key to preschool care is a variety of short activities varying between active and quiet times with rest and nutritious snacks.

Learning responsible personal finance begins in preschool. Teaching opportunity cost and “maybe later” helps with other experiences in life when children must make difficult choices. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Geography Fun Helps Preschool Kids

With a rug and a few

 Ready to Travel in Newly Built Cities

small cars and trucks, families can teach geography and economic concepts that will be used throughout their lives.
 To make the geography rug gather a relatively smooth large rug, small cars and trucks, plastic animals, Lego type blocks, blue and tan masking tape, towels and shoes. 

Build Hills & Valleys

Making the Scene
  Spread a rug on the floor or table. Explain to children that they will be making a town. The location may be real or imaginary. What will the place look like?  Are there hills and valleys? Are there rivers and lakes? Older children can make a topographic rug map of the United States with the mountain, Great Plains, rivers, and cities.
  Explain that land is not usually flat. There are geographic features on the place like hills, mountains, and rivers. Tuck towels and shoes underneath the rug to make these bumps with valleys between. Cake pans or plates underneath can make plains.
Add rivers with blue masking tape. Point out to

Build Lego Buildings

children that rivers flow down hill and end in the lowest point. Children can cut out lakes and ponds from blue paper.
 Add Human Features
   Create features humans have added to their environment. Tan masking tape can be paths, streets, and highways.
  Help children make a list of the buildings and other places they can make from Lego–type blocks and cardboard like stores, hospitals, schools, churches, parks, homes, and bridges. Add them and any small plastic animals you may have to the rug.
   How are people going to interact with each other and their environment in the city you have created? Is the grocer out of oranges and calling for a truck to bring them to the store? There are many stories to create adding action to play time.

Add Cars, Planes, Trucks

  There is constant movement. Trucks carry fruits, vegetables, milk, lumber and cars from one location to another.  Garbage trucks carry wastes to landfill. Fire trucks, ambulances, and police come to the rescue when there are accidents.  Sometimes police hand out speeding tickets.
  Where are people going? Do some need help? Are roads blocked and need repair or plowing? Use cotton balls for snow. Ask is this place like other regions?
  When children are finished, the geography/economic rug can be stored in a container for next time.
 Richard Scarry’s Busy Town books are excellent to introduce economics, and community helpers for this activity. Libraries have many books to help families teach more about the Five Themes of Geography: location, place, human relationships with the environment, movement, and regional similarities and differences that are also taught in schools. While on family trips use the Five Themes to teach all about the areas visited. This is a great way to organize pictures for a family vacation book.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Econ Fun? Go To Garage Sales!

   What did you do with Grandma Dee this week? “We went garage sailing!” the cousins replied.  “We sail from one Garage Sale to another.” This fun time full of memories also teaches valuable economic lessons.

  On Thursday night the one cousin searches through newspapers, cuts out, and highlights Garage Sale times and addresses.  Friday Grandma Dee and cousins and choose some close to the neighborhood during their time allotment.

  Children prepare for the “sailing” by doing “special” chores like picking up sticks and pulling little maples trees out of the garden. Their parents help record their money on threejars.com, an on-line money education program that teaches wise spending, saving, and charitable giving. The young cousins may spend a total of two dollars if they find bargains.

What’s a Bargain?

  A bargain is in the eyes of the beholder, but there are guiding rules. It must be within or almost within the purchase budget.  If it costs more than you have, you may choose a different item or share the item cost with someone.

  High on the purchase lists are books, small cars, figures, board games, puzzles, stuffed animals, baby items for the new baby, sandbox toys, kitchen items like colander, LEGOS, other blocks, and sports equipment.

Buying Strategies

  The children make a general walk -through to see if any desired items are a good value for a good price. Is the item under consideration clean? Are all the pieces there and in working condition?  Is it something I want or need?  Will I use it one time or many times. Do I think I might find something better at another sale?  Once they leave a site they cannot go back.

  Anther rule is always using your best manners. At one site a cousin found a stuffed daschund dog.  At the check the owner stated that was his favorite dog. “Take good care of him.” The new owner kissed the dog’s nose and promised to give Biscuit the best new home ever.  New friends are made garage sailing, too.

  Not every purchase is for them. They are also encouraged to think of others.   Who could use a piggy bank or rattle?

  Next are lunch, conversation, and another time to make lasting memories.  Grandma and the young boys discuss each purchase. Of all the items displayed, why did they purchase that particular one rather than another? What are some things they decided against?  What made the purchases bargains?  Did they purchase anything for someone else? Do they have want or need -type purchases?

What money is left?  One cousin proudly holds up a nickel, and all look forward to next Friday, especially Grandma.

   For more economics and memory ideas with young children see grandparentsteachtoo.org or wnmufm.org “Learning Through the Seasons.”

Photos: Wikimedia Commons: Vintage treasures, going cheap -  http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/625227
Antique Shop, North Street, Horncastle - geograph.org.uk - 562128
 Dave Hitchborne - From geograph.org.uk

More Ideas and Activities... See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.