Child development is a responsibility that no parent should never neglect. From a very young age, teaching children about certain values such as money would help them. It would mold their lives in an admirable way and help them make better choices as they grow. This will, at length, make the society a better place.
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Poverty is a major problem today in our society today. While many people believe that poverty is circumstantial; many will agree that poverty is generated, just like wealth. In other words, a person may avoid poverty by imbibing a set of anti poverty characters such as saving or investing. It is now, more than ever, important to teach children about the workings of money. The child development process should involve education that equips them for the future.
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Children and Money
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Today’s children need to know how to relate with money. They need to understand that money does not grow on trees or just appears from the tooth fairy. I used to think that my parents got money from the tooth fairy. You can not blame my 5 year old self; whenever I put my fallen tooth under the pillow, I woke up to money there. My parents made sure of that. But the harshness of today’s world may not allow us to have such luxuries.
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A lot of individuals, especially millennials and Gen Zers, learn about the principles of money in early adulthood. Because of this late entry, they go through a tough mind shift to be able to make money work for them. However, you can change all of this by efficiently teaching the next generation Alphas all about money. What better way to teach kids about a particular thing than in games.
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Games and fun activities are great ways to teach kids about anything including money. Everyone loves to play, myself included. I learn a lot from games, especially mind games that boosts IQ, now imagine what involving in these activities can do to child.
Kids tend to learn better by doing things themselves. So, playing games that teach kids the different values of economics and entrepreneurship is a great way to introduce these concepts. Gone are the days when children sit in front of a teacher to learn. Kids learn by what they see and experience. The Montessori call it “Kinesthetic learning”. They have an experience of it, they can relate with it, and they have seen it so they learn a lot faster and It sticks in their cortex.
There are various types of games on different platforms games that kids can learn about money, its principles and applications;
- Digital games that come in form of a mobile or computer application. You can play it on an electrical device, all you have to do is download the game.
- Indoor games that include board games, card games, dice games, or brick games and are played indoors.
- Outdoor games that must occur outside and involves either running, or performing a locomotive activity.
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Let’s take a look at 4 games you can play at home to teach your children about money:
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1. Monopoly
One of the games you can play at home to teach your children about money is Monopoly. Monopoly is a fast-dealing property trading board game that involves two and more players. In the game, players roll two dice to move around and they buy and trade properties, developing them with houses and hotels. Players collect rent from their opponents, with the goal being to drive them into bankruptcy.
This game teaches, how money and power works in the real economic world. It also teaches you how to have good negotiation skills and be financially proactive even in a circumstance of an unfair situation as it has provisions for life chances and community involvements. Monopoly Junior is great for Kids from the ages of 5 to 12 and years older can play the outright monopoly. You can get it at any online store for ₦5,000 to ₦15,000.
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2. Payday
Payday is another board game that teaches kids from any range about money management. The board is designed to look like a calendar and the players decide how many months to work for before the game starts. During the game, players accumulate bills and expenses to pay, along with collecting their monthly wage on “pay day” at the end of the month. The winner is the player who has the most money at the end of the last month of play. The game is suitable for children from the ages of 8 and above.
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3. Work And Earn
I personally love this activity because it is very engaging and enthusiastic. Although a gaming structure hasn’t been put out yet for this activity, you can inculcate it in the everyday life of your children. You can allocate responsibilities for your kids and pay them at completion. This will give them a sense that money is earned in exchange for value. For kids who like to play pretend, you can get play money or a pretend cash register and You can play store or be the customer at your child’s café, for instance.
You can also get a fancy box and fill it up with different values of a currency and get them to sort out the various values, sum them up value by value and use it to purchase something from you. What if you have a dollar pretend store for your kid and stuff two boxes with fake money. Except one box contains the Naira Currencies and the other, Dollar currencies and a colorful exchange chart. for this activity, the kid will have to exchange his/her currencies for the other using the chart and purchase items from the dollar store. this is a very cool way of teaching your kids the value of currencies.
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4. Online Gaming
One of such is Peter Pigs Money Counter. It is a very smart Gaming app for children that helps them to identify various currencies and learn about money. In this interactive game, kids practice identifying, counting and saving money while learning fun facts about U.S. currency. After completing the game, players are rewarded with a trip to the virtual store to buy accessories within budget and dress up Peter Pig in fun scenes.
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Another online application that opens up children to money is a game called GET RICH. This game allows players earn revenue by trading currencies. They learn how to either sell when trend gets higher and Buy when trend drops. It allows them to either buy properties with money earned or mine bit coins and they get to see their net worth and change their appearances.
By making money lessons fun, it can help children escape the victim’s mentality that many people have around money. It is giving them the understanding that they can make decisions and they can have power over their finances.
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I am the lady with the numbers at OG capital. Graduate of accounting from Bingham university and a Business Valuation officer from CFI in view. Fun loving and kind. Living the life of christ
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