Money Smart Kids

Family Adventure

GOAL:

Help kids learn about how money works and develop Money Smart habits while helping with grocery shopping

The ADVENTURE:

Review the following and choose from the suggestions ways to include your children in grocery shopping to help them develop money smart habits.

TIPS:

 Let kids work through the math on their own as much as they can. Talk them through it as needed, but always in a way of helping them figure it out for themselves.

 Acknowledge improvement you see as their ability to 'do the math' gets better.

 Let each child choose a favorite treat after successfully completing the shopping activity.

There are opportunities all around you to teach your kids to be Money Smart Kids. One of the most obvious is at the local grocery store when doing the family shopping. Here is a fun 'Adventure' to get you started:

🛒 Start at home by including the kids in making the shopping list and setting the budget. Whether you do this based on a weekly menu you have developed as a family, or just making a list of your favorite foods that are getting low, involve the kids in determining what items to buy, and how much to spend on each.

🛒 Once you get to the store let the kids find the items and check them against the budget. If an item costs more than what was budgeted, or you find an item that is on sale, have a conversation about other options (like buying a no-brand equivalent), whether to go ahead with the purchase or take it off the list, and if they choose to spend more on the item than budgeted, determine which item(s) to remove from the list.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Family Shopping Adventure is also a great time to let kids practice their math. Depending on their age and ability:

🛒 Have the kids add up the individual items on the list to get the budget total

🛒 Have the kids add up the items at the store

🛒 For younger kids the store is a great place to teach addition and subtraction: "If I have 3 cans and I decide to add 2 more, how many will I have?" "If I have 6 apples and I decide to put 3 back, how many will I have left?"

Involving the kids in the family grocery shopping will probably take more time than just doing it yourself, but when you consider all of these benefits it's obvious that it's worth the extra time and effort from time to time:

🛒 spending quality time with the kids

🛒 teaching kids about money

🛒 teaching kids math, reasoning skills, and other key life skills

🛒 involving kids in the planning and shopping process will make it more likely that they will be invested and cooperative with the family meals and processes at home

Pre-K Adventure

Help little ones understand making spending decisions by allowing your child to choose between two items (like broccoli or squash) that you are both alright with. 

Teen Adventure

Give your teen a budget for a meal and let them choose the menu and do the shopping.

Photo Location

Take a picture of your family grocery shopping and post it to your social media sites with the hashtags #MoneySmartKids and #MyDiscoveryDestination

Sponsored by Wattson and My Discovery Destination!

The mission of My Discovery Destination! and the Discovery Family program is to STRENGTHEN FAMILIES and BUILD CHARACTER through providing opportunities for families to enjoy FREE family experiences so they can build strong bonds and CREATE and CAPTURE memories.