Your Child Will Learn
About coins and saving money
Here’s What to Do
- Find an empty container that can be repurposed as a “Piggy Bank.” It could be an empty tissue box, a clean food container, a jar, etc.. Together with your child, decorate the container (like a pig, or whatever else they’d like).
- Show your child different types of coins. Explain their names and how much they’re worth.
- Talk with your child about what it means to save money. Explain that you’re going to give them some coins over the next few weeks, and they need to save the money in their Piggy Bank.
- After a few weeks, have them bring the coins in the piggy bank to a store. Allow them to use their money to buy something small.
Put PEER Into Action
PAUSE
- Look into your child’s eyes. See who can last the longest before someone laughs.
ENGAGE
- “This small brown-ish one is a penny, which is one cent. This big silver one is a quarter, which is 25 cents. So 25 pennies is the same as one quarter.”
- “What do you think it means to save money? How do you think you could save money?”
ENCOURAGE
- “Here’s a dime, which is 10 cents. You could buy something very small now, but you’re going to save money so you can buy something even better later.”
- “Wow! Look how much money you saved! Let’s go to the store and see what you can buy with that amount.”
REFLECT
- “What did you learn about our Piggy Bank experiment?”
Not Quite Ready
Have your child sort coins and talk about the different coins.
Ready for More
Consider having your child identify a goal they’re saving for, and give them a small allowance for completing chores.
As Your Child Masters This Skill
They will know the different types of coins and how people use money to buy things
Time to Complete
20-30 minutes
Materials Needed
A container like an empty tissue box, a clean food container, or a jar
Decorating supplies (markers, glue, scissors, paper, etc.)