Financial Literacy Games For All School Levels

By: LaTosha Bennett, Special Educator, Academic & Functional Skills Lead Teacher – KIPP New Orleans

Students become financially literate when they develop foundational skills that build wise money habits.

The Council on Economic Education (CEE) is a great place to start when looking for K-12 resources to incorporate in the classroom. Check with your state CEE chapter for grant opportunities to fund financial literacy programs.

Overwhelmingly, statistics show that nearly one-fourth of millennials spend more than they earn (CEE, 2020). So, how can we ensure that Generation Z, Generation Alpha and future generations of students are able to make informed and effective decisions about their financial health?

Many schools around the world have found The Stock Market Game (SMG) to be a useful and fun tool to use for this purpose. Students are given $100,000 in game bucks to use towards stock, bonds, and mutual fund investments. They compete to beat the S&P 500 and see who will come out on top. One cool opportunity within the SMG is that you can request a financial industry guest speaker to visit your classroom through the SIFMA Foundation’s Invest It Forward initiative.

The Stock Market Game is one of many games that can help students learn to make wise financial decisions. Check out this list of financial literacy games by school level.

Primary

• Peter Pigs Money Counter– Practice identifying, counting and saving money
• Wise Pockets– Interactive game about managing money
• Fruit Shoot Coins– A coin game
• I.P. Pocket Change– Teaches about currency and managing money

Middle School

• Gen I Revolution: Online Personal Finance Game– Personal finance skills
• Chair the Fed Game– Monetary policy and simulated economy
• Plain’it Prom App– Visa’s free app to help teens and parents budget for the prom

High School

• Payback– Teaches students how to succeed in college with out taking out too much debt
• Spent– Challenges students to survive the struggle of low-income living
• Financial Football/Financial Soccer– Interactive quiz-bowl game
• Shady Sam– Teaches about loan terms
• STAX– Interactive investment game
• Money Magic– Teaches basic budgeting principles
• The Payoff– A game that teaches how to make smart financial decisions
• Hit the Road: A Financial Adventure– Teaches how to save and spend wisely
• The Uber Game– Simulates being an Uber driver trying to pay the mortgage
• Credit Clash– Teaches about credit scores

If you’re still looking for more ways you can incorporate financial literacy inside your classroom, visit the Council for Economic Education to learn about financial literacy standards and Common Core. No need to worry about planning it’s already done for you.