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Three Games To Teach Your Kids All About Money

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When you have a household full of impressionable children, you'll need to make sure that you're always teaching them the right things. This is particularly important if you are trying to figure out how to teach them about money.

Money is like a gift and a curse -- something that we all dedicate a great deal of energy toward, no matter the level of importance we place on it. Since it's an important topic that becomes increasingly vital in our lives, you'll want to give your child a strong foundation of understandings about money.

The best way to do this is by making it all playful. Incorporate some money games in your household that make it easy for your kids to pick up on and internalize these lessons.

With this in mind, read on to learn a little bit more about how you can pass these lessons on to your child in a playful way.

1. Create A Store To Help Your Kids Learn About Money

There's no better way to teach your child math than to create a family store.

You'll quickly learn that your kids have things they love and want just like you. Why not structure it so that they can learn a lesson at the same time?

For instance, rather than buying them their favorite treat, set up a family store with play money that they earn for various tasks. This way, they'll have to save up, know how much their desired items cost, and make decisions about whether or not they can afford it.

This helps them learn math, budgeting and finance at the same time. By making this an ongoing fixture in your family, your child will also be more advanced at this topic than the lessons they're learning about money and math early in elementary school.

If you really want to teach them advanced lessons, you can incorporate the use of credit and loans when buying from the family store.

2. Set Up A Penalty Jar

Another way to teach your child about money is to incorporate a penalty jar.

The point of this game is for everyone to add some money to a jar anytime they forget to dump the trash, wash dishes poorly, complain, or otherwise commit an undesirable act.

If your child starts out with a certain amount of money in their piggy bank, the last thing they would ever want to do is lose it. This jar makes them aware of the amount of money they have and can help them learn to count the various bills and coins. Further, this jar teaches personal accountability.

3. Open Up A Family Bank

Finally, teach your kids lessons about banking by setting up a family bank.

This bank allows you to teach your kids about making deposits and withdrawals, keeping up with their balance, transferring funds, and so much more. You can show them a variety of investments that will help them grow their money as well.

Teach them to avoid personal debt, since currently, households carry an average of $5,000 in credit card debt.

Taking money out of the family bank and depositing it into an actual bank can be a great family field trip that get your kids excited about money.

Use these three tips so that you can teach your kids all about money and finance by playing some fun games.

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