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10 Toys to Teach Your Kids About Money That Actually Work
As all parents know kids learn best through play, so when it comes to teaching your little one about money why not do it with the perfect toy. We have put together a list of ten of our favourite toys that actually work well at doing just that.
Children through play can successfully learn about the world around them and themselves. They also pick up skills needed to help them work, study and build great relationships, as it can improve their cognitive, physical, social and emotional well being.
Research conducted by Cambridge University has revealed that our approach to money, including the ability to plan ahead, is basically set by the age of seven and that once formed it’s difficult to reverse those habits later on in life.
So for us parents investing our money on the right type of educational toy and the time to sit and play them with our kids, is a no brainer, because not only will we be having fun together playing with the toys, we would be providing valuable money lessons that will stay with our kids into their adulthood.
We have tried and tested all these educational toys listed below and think they are perfect for kids of different ages that are curious and learning money.
10 Toys to Teach Your Kids About Money
Leapfrog Count Along Till Toy
£27 at Marks And Spencers
Kids can enjoy pretending to run a shop with this brightly coloured till from Leapfrog. This count along toy till comes with lots of colourful pretend foods for shoppers to buy.
The interactive touchscreen gives this till a modern relatable vibe. Kids can scan all the items to total up the end bill and shoppers can pay with either coins or swipe card. We also love how it plays more than 50 phrases and silly songs that help kids learn how to count, different colours and food groups.
The till size makes it easy for little ones to move itaround and it is ideal for imaginative play time. As they scan each item they can see the total adding up to discover how many coins they need to pay, before counting them as they drop them into till.
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 4 Years Old
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills
- Giving change
- Money counting at home
- Understanding exchange of money for items
Henbrandt Sterling Play Money
£2.15 at Amazon
Play money for kids are perfect for them playing shop, this cheap play set has sterling coins and notes in it and is an affordable add on to a child’s pretend toy till, or simply to put in a tub for them to use in their imaginary cafe or shop.
Even though this is pretend money and the notes are only printed on one side, they still have a resemblance to real money, so practically are fab at helping kids with real life coin and note recognition. This set will also help them with learning how to make change, and learning what each is worth.
Recommended Age Range: 3+
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills
- Giving change
- Money denominations.
- Money counting at home.
Max and Ivy enjoy Spending, Sharing and Saving
£19.99 at Max and Ivy
This isn’t really a toy as such, but it will seem like one to children. In this set from Max and Ivy you get a spend money box, share money box and a save money box. Each in a different colours and each clearly marked for what they are for.
The concept of these handy boxes is that when your little one does chores to earn money, get paid their pocket money or birthday money they can decide to separate money into three categories. One how much they want to spend straight away. Two how much they want to save for something bigger later or an emergency and Three how much they want to share with others, to treat them or help them out.
Also included in this set is a children picture book with a story ideal for reinforcing the sentiment of this set.
Recommended Age Range: 3+
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills, counting and addition
- How to save and spend money consciously
- How to invest money for growth
- How real life family cash flow works, with saving, investing and budgeting its income
- Set goals and track their progress
Learn Well Money Dominoes
£12 at Amazon
This is a hard wearing set of 24 dominoes that families can enjoy playing. Dominoes is a simple game for kids to understand, play and learn from.
Kids gets engaged on winning whilst learning how money is written differently, matching number forms with picture form and written form.
Recommended Age Range: 3+
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills
- Money denominations
- How money looks as number, words and in coins
Pop to the Shops Game
£11.75 at Orchard Toys
This is a wonderfully colourful shopping game that the kids loved. Once you unfold the board game you have four different shops all selling different items. Players needs to race and count their 3D character from shop to shop, using play money to buy lots of different items.
Players over turn a card with an item on it then need to make their way to the right shop and have the right play money to be able to pay for that item.
The winner is the first person to collect 6 items into their shopping baskets. All the time switching from the roles of the shop keeper and banker, so they will have plenty of time to get used to handling money and giving change. We think this game offers a really fun way for kids to learn and stretch their imagination, with a financial twist to the traditional matching games.
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 9 years old
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills, counting, adding and subtracting
- Giving change
- Communication and real life interactions
- Good Manners saying please and thank you to the shop owners.
Learning Resources Money Bags
£17.90 at Amazon
This is a fun coin value board game that gets kids familiar with money as they play. Players have to earn money as they move around the board by completing common household chores, kids have to take the right amount of money they earn from the money bag. Plus, there’s an additional incentive for kids to use critical thinking and coin combining skills.
Once the first person manages to make it to the finish line game play ends and the winner is the player with the most money, not the first to the end, which we thought was a refreshing twist to game play.
Recommended Age Range: 5+
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills, counting, adding and subtracting
- Money denominations
- Giving change
- Early financial awareness
On the Money
£7.00 at Fun Learning
This on the money counting game has been designed to help children understand money. Using the pack of cards they can take part in lots of fun different activities based around shopping.
These activities make them understand if they can afford the product they are wishing to buy and how much change they will get when buying it.
Recommended Age Range: 5+
Skills Learned:
- Basic math skills, counting, adding and subtracting
- Money denominations
- Understanding of money
- Early financial awareness
Payday Game
£14.99 at IWOOT
In this game it tackles the thought that you have to spend money to make money. The board game is set up as a calendar month and players must keep an eye on the mail.
Decide if they should take out loans, and stay on the look out for special deals, as they make their way to the end of the month and that best day….. Pay Day.
Invest, Borrow and Spend is the basis of this game, with a few real life temptations added in of family casino night, lottery win and shopping groceries overspend to challenge you.
Recommended Age Range: 8+
Skills Learned:
- Financial Literacy.
- Practice counting bills.
- Reality check of real life as something happens every day to affect your money levels .
- Critical thinking .
Big Money Game
£7.39 at Amazon
This is an inspiring get rich board game where everyone gets rich, but its all about who gets the richest.
You have three roles of the dice to rake in the money and buy investments, some cool and outrageous things like toys, candy factory and racing leagues.
We found this a fun money game that, for some kids took a little to understand how to play but can be won in around 40 minutes, which is perfect if you need to have a rematch!
Recommended Age Range: 8+
Skills Learned:
- Financial literacy
- Concept of investing
- Counting money values
- Strategy and problem solving
The Game of Life
£17.99 at The Entertainer
We loved playing this game and can actually remember playing it ourselves as a child. This game has always been likened to monopoly, but we don’t think its is half as brutal and capitalistic.
With each turn, you reach a different milestones in life such as going to college, getting married, paying taxes, having children and paying bills.
Moving around the colourful board you can land on either positive or negative things and the winner is whoever has the most money at the end of the game, whilst successfully dealing with life’s curveballs and obstacles as you go through life.
Recommended Age Range: 8+
Skills Learned:
- Financial literacy
- Reality check of real life as something happens every day to affect your money levels .
- How to handle currency
- Problem solving
All Prices Correct at Publishing 18th November 2022
