FINANCIAL LITERACY

This year I have been writing a column on Multiple Literacies for The Australian
Education Times. The readers are mostly students (middle school through university) and
parents. Each short article provides a basic introduction to the literacy, then suggests possible
activities the students can do to develop the literacy.

While this was originally written for students there are many ideas and resources that educators
can take and integrate into their curriculum!

Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money

works in the world: how someone manages to earn or
make it, how that person manages it, how he/she invests it
(turns it into more) and how that person donates it to help
others.
Financial literacy is an essential skill for living in the 21st century, and is a skill that should be
learned beginning at a very young age. Here are some fun activities that will help you become
financially literate!

Money is basically a tool used in a bartering, or trading, system which allows people to obtain
goods and services. You can:

 Earn Money

 Save money

 Spend it,

 Invest it or

 Give it away.
With financial literacy you will know how to do these things wisely. A good place to begin
developing financial literacy is to learn about what money is and how it works.

What is Money, and How Does it Work?

Visit, interview online or invite some experts to speak to your class or organization
– a banker, an entrepreneur, a business owner or manager.

How do you go about learning about money as a child? By earning it!

Many children earn money by doing chores, running errands, taking care of people’s yards,
starting a dog-walking business or washing cars. In high school you can find many kinds of
jobs. The web site Mint.org has all kinds of advice for students of every age group.

A great place to start is the first activity listed – The Lemonade Stand!

Earning Money
In the United States children have sold lemonade at stands for decades. It is not the clear,
carbonated beverage known as lemonade in Australia. It is made with lemons, sugar and water.

Children usually set them up in the yard or near the street in front of their houses. People stop
and buy cups of ice cold lemonade. Sales are better on hot, sunny days! Kool-Aid is another
popular beverage to sell at these stands

The Lemonade Stand! – This is a wonderful way for young children to learn about
making money as well as budgeting, advertising, inventory and costs, profit, supply and demand,
and selling.

When you have made money you can then learn about making good decisions about what to do
with your money – spend it, save it, invest it or give it away.

Students can also run many others types of real businesses! Look at what other students have
done and be inspired!

Start and run a business – some young people organize and run businesses within their
schools, others do so outside of school.

 The Lunch Cart – some high school students sought (and found) ways
to keep students on campus during and after lunch. They created a very
successful lunch cart business.

 The Cookie Company – a second grade and a fifth grade class

collaboratively started and ran a cookie baking business at their school.
They had so much business that the principal had to create a cookie
buying schedule for the campus stating which grade levels could
purchase cookies on which days.
  A campus store – in some schools student set up and run an actual
store selling things such as school supplies, t-shirts and snacks.

 A community grocery – a group of high school students raise funds to

build and run a grocery store for their community. This is a growing
trend in rural areas, and a fantastic "relevant, rigour and real world"
learning experience!

Giving Money

 Disaster Relief - the Nepal Earthquake, April 25, 2015 – this event is
an opportunity for all students to truly make a difference in the world.
Brainstorm a way to help the children of Nepal. Many orphanages with
schools were destroyed, and children are sleeping in the street. Be
careful about where you send your money. Not all organizations ensure
that the all monies you send get to your intended benefactors. Research
is needed. One organization I can vouch for personally is AERO in the
United States. They have been supporting an orphanage of 200
children for over 10 years. Here is the report about the orphanage and
how to help.

 Create and sell “apps” to fund an education foundation – In this

example, it began with an 11-year-old who loved apps, and who loved
creating them. See this TED talk given by 12-year-old Thomas Suarez.
The monies from the sale of his apps go to an education foundation he
created with the help of his parents and teacher.

 Raise funds for a cause – Caine’s Arcade began with a 9-year-old boy
who created an arcade out of cardboard boxes and everyday objects. A
filmmaker happened to discover him, made a film about his project,
and the result was the launch of the Imagination Foundation, a non-
profit to foster creativity and entrepreneurship in kids like Caine
everywhere. To date, over 225,000 kids in 60 countries have
participated in the Cardboard Challenge!
  Ryan’s Well - Ryan Hreljac, learned of the great need for clean and
safe water in developing countries in his 1st grade class. With the
support of friends, family and the community, Ryan raised enough
money to build a well in Africa. In 1999, at age seven, Ryan's first well
was built at Angolo Primary School in northern Uganda.

Olivia’s Birds

– Olivia Bouler, 12 years old, raised over $200,000 to save birds in the
Gulf of Mexico after the BP Oil Spill by painting pictures of birds.

Watch Olivia's video on YouTube. You may purchase her book, Olivia's Birds, at Barnes
and Noble.

Becoming Entrepreneurs

Start a YE Club – Young Entrepreneurs – entrepreneurialism is one of the most important skills
for the 21st century. Entrepreneurs are creative, are problem solvers, and they collaborate and
innovate.

Financial Literacy Apps

Mindblown Life - For high school and college – create an avatar that travels through a
digital life full of crucial financial decisions, including saving for a home, dealing with financial
disasters (like robberies), and managing student loans.

Unleash the Loot – for children ages 5-8 this game motivates kids to save money
in order to afford to rescue animals and build an animal-friendly treehouse. Players can also earn
money by completing environmentally friendly acts, such as planting a garden.

Writing
Effective written communication is one of the 7 Survival Skills of the 21st Century!
Learn how to write excellent:

 Resumes

 Business letters

 Business plans, and

 Grants.

Reading

While written for young children, this book has an excellent message for everyone.
Older students who want to teach financial literacy to younger students could build their project
around this book. There is no better way to learn something than to teach it!

Find this title online then follow links to other books people bought. You can Google for
lesson plans specifically for this book, too!

Other activities:

Create a Budget – this skill is very important for high school, but a definite must for going on to
college.

Practice now by creating a budget for a family dinner, a party, a meeting . . . a lemonade stand!

Teach Others –
There is no better way to really learn something than to teach it!

Design, then teach, a course to first graders on how to count money. A great way to do this is to
help them get into small groups (business partners), set up a business, then shop and sell.