When children go to school they’re taught reading, writing, and math, but what about life skills? Luckily, your kids can easily learn and thing or two about real life and the real world through fun, educational board games.
The following board games can help your child learn a thing or two about money management, handling the experiences life throws your way, handling successes and failures, and more.
Board games that teach about money have been around for decades. Now, a slew of online games seeking to impart financial smarts are in the mix as well. Financial Football is engaging.
Skills taught: Focus, concentration, planning, critical thinking, and good sportsmanship.
Age range: 5 and up
Fun factor: We love chess! Chess is one of the world’s most popular strategy games. It promotes brain growth, can increase your IQ, and it is also super fun to play with friends!
Skills taught: Money management, investing, buying and selling, cause and effect, and how to be financially responsible.
Age range: 8 and up
Fun factor: It may be the longest game you ever play, but it’s worth it because it really does teach a lot of important life skills. There are so many themed Monopoly games to help get your child interested in it and its pretty much guaranteed to be a classic hit.
Skills taught: Money management, decision making, being an adult.
Age range: 10 and up
Fun factor: Teaching about life is literally in the title, and this game is great at giving children a glimpse into being an adult. From owning a car, to buying a house, or starting a family – kids learn about the financial reality of some of these expensive and exciting times of life.
Games To Teach About Money
Skills taught: Managing resources, negotiation, planning and foresight.
Age range: 10 and up
Fun factor: Players try to start a settlement on the island of Catan by building cities, roads, farm land, and other resources. This game is really fun for both children and adults.
Skills taught: Learning words in new languages (Spanish, French, Italian, or English).
Age range: 6 and up
Fun factor: In some tests, player’s averaged learning 20-30 words in their target language each game – without even realizing they were learning.
Skills taught: This game is filled with cause and effect life lessons to learn from. It also teaches children that “chutes” are a part of life, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Most importantly, children learn that they can always recover – and you never know when a great opportunity is headed your way!
Age range: 3 and up
Fun factor: This game is great for young children. It’s fun, simple, and filled with opportunities to have meaningful conversation about life.
Let us know - which game was your families favorite?
Let’s be honest. Hoping children learn via parent lecture is unlikely and boring. Kids don’t listen, and parents get frustrated. But there is a fun way to teach kids about things that doesn’t feel like learning—playing games. If you want to teach your kids how to behave responsibly financially, don’t lecture. Instead, play games that teach kids about money.
Classic Board Games That Teach Kids About Money
My favorite place to start when using games to teach about money are the classic games. You know, the ones we grew up playing.
Monopoly
This classic game teaches your kid the value of location, location, location when buying land. It also teaches kids about the importance of having rental income. And of course, your kids learn about property taxes, stocks, and income.
The only drawback to this game (and some don’t see it as a drawback) is that it can take a long time to play, upwards of an hour or longer.
Life
In The Game of Life, kids choose whether to go to college or go right to work. They also learn about the importance of insurance and avoiding loans. The stock market also plays a role in the game.
One thing I find confusing is that the more kids you have, the more money you seem to make. I haven’t found that to be true in real life!
Pay Day
In Pay Day, the board is set up like a calendar month. Players can choose to buy deals such as a pizza joint for $800. Then, later in the game, they can choose to sell it and make $12,000. Players also get bills in the mail and have to pay them. Throughout the game, players can borrow money from the bank or other players, but they need to agree on the terms.
This is a great game for teaching kids about investing and borrowing. Parents may like it because you can choose how many months to play. The more months you play, the longer the game goes.
Newer Board Games That Teach Kids about Money
Beyond the classic games mentioned above, there are several new board games that teach kids about money.
Cashflow for Kids
This game was created by Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The game is suitable for kids ages 6 and older. The board is fairly simple. Kids land on a green or red space or a dollar sign. When they land on a green space, something positive happens to their financial situation. For instance, they can choose to buy a stock and get passive income. If they land on a red, they have to pay an expense. The dollar sign gives them a payday, and this is also when they can get their passive income.
While the board is simple, this game is great for teaching kids about positive, long-term uses of your money and negatives uses of it.
The Allowance Game
Designed for ages 5 to 10, The Allowance Game teaches kids about earning and spending money as they travel around a board. They might spend money for movie tickets and earn money for losing a tooth. They can also put their money in the bank and earn interest.
Games To Teach Kids Money
The money that is used resembles real United States money, so it’s easy for young kids to learn how to differentiate the different bills and coins, too.
Act Your Wage Game
Followers of Dave Ramsey will love the Act Your Wage Game, especially if you’d like to easily teach your children Ramsey’s Baby Steps. When you play the game, you’re given a life situation—how much you make per year and if you’re married or not as well as basic bills such as food and utilities. You also draw debt cards.
You follow Ramsey’s Baby Steps to get yourself out of debt and in a financially secure position. Along the way, you’ll fill envelopes so you can spend cash rather than using credit.
Online Games
You can also find games that teach kids about money by going online.
Rich Kid Smart Kid
The Rich Kid Smart Kid site (from the makers of the board game Cashflow for Kids) has several mini-games including:
- Jesse’s Ice Cream Stand
- Reno’s Debt Dilemma
- Ima’s Pay Yourself 1st
- Jesse’s Big Change
These microgames teach kids entrepreneurship, debt management, and how to start an emergency fund.
Peter Pig’s Money Counter
Peter Pig’s Money Counter is ideal for 5 to 8-year olds who are learning to add and subtract money. Kids need to put the money in different jars, and then they can buy things such as clothes for the pig. By doing the various activities, kids learn how to add and subtract money.
Financial Football
Financial Football taps into some kids’ love of the NFL to help teach them about finances. The game has three different levels:
- Rookie (ages 11-14)
- Pro (ages 14-18)
- Hall of Fame (ages 18+)
To go down the football field, players must answer financial questions. This game was created by VISA in conjunction with Drew Brees, who created several of the questions in the game.
If you homeschool, you can dig even deeper with this game, as there are also lesson plans and pre and post-tests available.
The Playoff
The Playoff is designed for kids ages 14+. In this immersive game, you choose between two vloggers, Alex and Jess. You manage their finances and deal with unexpected events like getting robbed all while trying to develop a video in just three days. Whoever ends the game with the most money wins.
Teach Children About Money
Just like Financial Football, this game has lesson plans, so it could be used in schools or if you homeschool.
Final Thoughts
Fun Ways To Teach Kids About Money
Teaching your kids about money is challenging. Sure, they’ll watch how you handle your money, but they may need more instruction for how to handle their money wisely. Luckily, there are many games that teach kids about money. Your kids can learn and face natural consequences through the game before they do so in real life. Then, when they’re teens and young adults, they hopefully will know how to manage money responsibly.