Incorporate fun stuff into your financial literacy classroom! Here are some files that teach financial literacy with events such as: Valentines Day, Super Bowl, and Halloween. There are also some online Finance games to share with your students

Meet Mia Saver and Ima Spender are two 23-year-old women who recently graduated from college.  For a couple of years after graduation, neither of them saves any money for retirement. Both are focused on establishing their careers and purchasing household items.  At age 25, both decide it’s time to start a retirement account. In this activity, we’ll use an online financial calculator to better understand the power of compounding, interest rates and time!

Students will work through a budgeting workbook, choosing their expenses and overcoming unexpected items each month. Step 1, the student will use a dice to determine their future job, which will be used throughout the activity. Step 2 guides the students to calculate their take home pay using step by step guide to take off deductions from the paycheck. Step 3 allows the students to make life decisions for how they want to live and determine how much those decisions will costs (tracking the happiness points that go along with each choice). Step 4 is a fun part of the budget where "stuff happens" which impact their monthly finances and happiness points. There is a summary activity to find out if students are able to fund their monthly budget, even with the unexpected. There is a final reflection and analysis for the students to learn from this budget activity. Students will need this workbook, a dice (could be virtual), and a calculator

This resource provides a listening guide, presentation and student assignment on the topic of "Buy Now, Pay Later", which has become a very popular way to finance everyday purchases. Students are challenged to identify the rise of BNPL programs and how they can "hurt" your credit score and lead to irresponsible borrowing in the future.  

Learning About Money Doesn’t Have To Be Boring!
A series of short vignettes produced for CFEE by Just For Laughs Gags focusing on money and highlighting money challenges, along with supporting tips and teaching material and suggested classroom activities and lesson ideas.
- Mind Your Money (PIN and password security)
- Buying Online: Be Safe. Be Wise (identifying secure websites, public WIFI and password security)
- Do They Have the Right Stuff (Trusted Advice, Selecting Financial Advisors, Good Money Decisions)
- If It Sounds Too Good To Be True (suspicious offers, risk/reward, credible investment sources)
-Catch It If You Can - In the Small Print (contracts, documents, verbal agreements, protect yourself)
- Why Pay More? (credit card offers, payments and interest charges, statement information, credit score)
- Need it, Want it, It's Your Call (need vs want, spending choices, compulsive buying, influences on buying)
- Take The Time (spending decisions, pressures to spend, comparison shopping, budget your money, return policies)
- Get the Credit You Deserve (credit score, paying off debt, credit rating accuracy, importance of a credit score)
- Scam Alert! (scams, fraud, personal information, protect your identity)

This is an online lesson with built in quizzes, videos and explanations. Students can use this to supplement the learnng happening in the classroom on the credit card unit. Topics covered include: How do credit cards work?When should you use a credit card?Credit Card TerminologyWhat are some factors to consider when choosing a credit card?What are the costs of using a credit card?What are credit scores and how can you build your credit score?There is also a mini case activity included at the end with questions and feedback for the student.

This resource provides a listening guide, student assignment and reflection on the topic of "Delayed Gratification", 24 hour rule and self control. In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success with this priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow. Mischel theorized that children who eat the marshmallow within the time period would not be as successful as children who waited for 15 minutes for another piece of marshmallow. Delayed gratification = the process that a person will gain a reward after resisting temptation. 

Venture: Entrepreneurial ExpeditionIntroduce 7th - 10th grade students to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, from creating a business plan to performing market research, in this food-truck simulation. In this program, students will progress through online (and offline) lessons entitled Building a Budget, The Entrepreneur in You, Planning & Building a Business, Your Business Snapshot.

This lesson seeks to help students to understand the concept of FOMO and the impact on their lives regarding anxiety, debt and stress. At the end of the lesson students should be able to identify: Causes of FOMO, Impact on debt and stress, Strategies to change this behavior. Included are pre and post lesson activities and assessments and content to teach the lesson and help students clarify the impact of FOMO on financial decisions.  Suggested Timing: 75-150 minutes depending on whether optional topics are done and how much class time is given for assignment.

Outcome: FL10.5 Examine the role of personal budgets and their importance for financial planning.Indicator: f. Discuss how personal goals, social influences and values impact a budget.

Students can write a letter to their future self, outlining future plans (financial, education, career, family, wellness). This would be a nice reminder to themselves in the future regarding the plans they made before. Research shows that if you make a plan, you are more likely to realize those plans and dreams! Hopefully this will be a fun exercise for students to participate in.

Steps to participate: Write the letter, pick a receiving date, send the letter and verify the information. You can pick your delivery date or select 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years or a specific date that you would like. Letters can be private or public (anonymous). The letter goes to a an email address, so be sure to keep that email active (with password and access).

This listening guide and assignment will help you understand key points about financial fraud and how to protect yourself, based on the video "Financial Basics: Video Fraud." Before You Watch:Ask the students to think about what you already know about financial fraud.Have they ever come across a suspicious email, phone call, or online offer?

In the game Credit Clash, the player/student decides how many credit prodcuts they will take out (credit cards, student loans, auto loans, mortgages), when they were "ready" for the loan and if they were able to pay the loans. The debt may even go to "collections" during the game if the player isn't careful and responsible with their payment and borrowing. 

In Shady Sam, the player/student plays the role of the lender, and the objective is to make as much money from unsuspecting customers as possible (hence the name.) It is a great review of all the loan terms and how they impact the total amount paid by the borrower/earned by the lender (loan sharks). Play here: https://shadysam.com/

One of the key strategies in investing is to take advantage of the power of compounding. Two of the most common cases of people benefitting from compounding are: receiving compound interest in a savings account, and getting compounded returns from stock market investments. In this activity, we’ll use one of these calculators to better understand the power of compounding.

This activity contains 21 pages of resources, handouts and activities about interest and goal assessments. The worksheets may help students organize information about career planning. Activities include: 7 Steps to Decision-Making, Self-Assessment & Work Values, Interests Assessment, Skills & Abilities Assessment, Personality/Temperament Assessment, Work Values Assessment, Choices not Chances Worksheet, Lifestyle Considerations, Goal Setting, Self Appraisal Questionnaire, Career Exploration, Interests Exploration, and a final Self-Exploration which is a compilation of all the data completed in the other worksheets. 

In this vignette the girl is influenced by her peers to make a poor choice.  Don’t let others decide what you need and what you want. Every day people are exposed to advertising trying to convince them to buy their product. If you think that what you want is actually something you need, you are more likely to buy it. Money must be spent on needs, but wants are a choice you make. You should be in control of your spending.

This resource contains a full lesson with suggested sequences, timing, activities, context for learning, assignment and rubric. In this lesson, students will learn ways to avoid financial scams and schemes designed to defraud customers. At the end of this lesson, students will: identify ways to avoid financial scams and schemes designed to defraud customersSuggested Timing: 60 minutes depending on whether optional topics are done and how much class time is given for assignment.

This activity involves four scenarios where the students will uncover the opportunity costs for each scenario (every decision involves a trade-off). The opportunity cost is the profit lost (or total cost- financial and non-financial costs) when one alternative is chosen over another. A trade-off is understanding that you are going to lose something, in relation to time, money, or energy, when the decision to choose something else is made.  When you buy or do one thing with your money, you must give up the chance to buy or do something else. This is a trade-off: what you give up to get what you want. When you spend part of your income on certain things, you give up spending it on other things.

Objective: Students will understand the principles of saving money and why adopting a savings mindset is crucial for long-term financial well-being.Indicators: Investigate different saving strategies (e.g., lump sum or at regular intervals, pre-authorized and random contributions). Examine advantages and disadvantages associated with various saving strategies. Identify appropriate savings strategies based on needs, wants and goals (e.g., 50 per cent needs/30 per cent wants/20 per cent savings, auto withdrawal, deposit only account, deductions at source).