As a mother of 3 young boys, I am always on the lookout for games that can help them grow, especially about financial education. We want to prepare our children to make smart financial decisions in the future. We have been trying different ways. One of the more effective ways to teach our kids about money management is by introducing online money games into our family routines. I will share more about how we do that in this blog post.
Importance of Financial Education:
Early Financial Literacy
Financial education will help children to set the foundation for money and make informed decisions about money. They can learn how to differentiate between needs and wants, therefore make wise spending choices. My eldest boy is turning 8 years old soon but he is still not clear about money. He asks about money sometimes, so it’s better to prepare them when they are young.
Budgeting Skills & Saving Habits
Kids learn how to create and manage a budget. They will know how to plan for expenses and allocate their funds. For now, we only give our children money when they do chores, however, they are still uncertain about what to spend their money on. Therefore, they are keeping all their money either in their own piggy bank or their bank account. In a way, they are learning how to save so they know the importance of saving money for future goals and emergencies. We definitely need to work on instilling investment knowledge.
Critical Thinking & Goal Setting
Financial education promotes analytical thinking, so the kids can solve problems regarding their own finances and for investment purposes. Kids also learn the ways to set financial goals, such as saving for a toy or planning for college. They will make more informed decisions regarding financial choices.
A Fun Way to Learn About Money: Online Games
From our own experience, we have tried board games (which are very fun but the toddler boy keeps disturbing us), and online learning (well, they cannot sit still for more than 20 minutes), the best fun way to do it with the kids are playing online games together as a family.
Recently, we found a website with free online money games. We spent so many hours together playing those games. Below are two of our favorites:
My boys are Lego fans. Combining building city and Lego, it’s a definite win! They can build their own building and dig out the Lego to build more. They keep telling me which lego to use. Well, seems like they teach me more than I teach them. The game also has hints that tell the kids that’s how they earn money and spend money.
This is a grocery store simulation game. You act as a manager in charge, so you have to make sure that you stock up, check out customers, and use the profits to expand your product line. It is interesting to see how my boys decide to manage their stores in different ways. We discussed how we will manage our stores in different ways and how we can use money to help our store.
There are many more online games that we play together. We had fun discussing money management, especially about investment because that is the area that they are unsure what they can do at this young age. We are so grateful that we found this website which provides free games in a fun way. The games run smoothly, and the instructions are clear. The boys even compared who earns more, so we had the chance to discuss personal growth, and mindset in a more subtle way as well.
Conclusion:
As a parent of young children, we truly believe that financial education is a valuable gift that we can give our children. By using online money games, our family time is more fun and engaging. These online games can be the first step of our children’s journey toward financial literacy and success. Let’s all start today!