Activities
::Lesson Plans::
Download our classroom activities that complement our Your Money Matters guide for high school students, which highlights budgeting, saving, college planning, banking and consumer credit. Our free budgeting, credit, identity theft and saving activities are now available for free download below.
::Activities That Teach::
Incorporating activities into informational sessions is a great way to help the content stick. Consider trying one of the following activities the next time you teach.
- The Cup Dance (PDF) is a group activity that can be used as a team-building exercise, incorporated into a lesson review or used to demonstrate how budgeting for a family is truly a team effort.
- Expression Cards (PDF) allow people to express themselves in a safe, non-threatening way. The earlier you can get people participating in the lesson the more willing they’ll be to engage throughout the entire class. Use these cards as an ice breaker, to check in with students about their thoughts or reactions to a topic or as a closing activity to bring your message full-circle. Each deck is $15 and includes 53 full-color cards and suggestions for use. To order, email the Executive Training Team at OU’s Team Quest or call 405.325.0464.
- Money Habitudes is a card game that allows people to talk about how their habits and attitudes related to money affect how, why and when they spend, save, give, invest and go into debt. To view the wide selection of tools and corresponding teaching guides, visit MoneyHabitudes.com.
- Susie Smith’s budget(PDF) is an activity that proves you don’t need a lot of money to live on a budget. It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with it.
Use Susie’s budget as an opportunity to dissect and debate what other people do with their money. Clients can review and discuss Susie’s choices, what she did right and what she could do differently. Consider printing blank budgets so your clients can complete their own. Emphasize customizing; no one budget is right for everyone. - Facebook Editor is an activity that focuses on identity theft prevention. Social networking is a fun way to stay in touch with friends; however, it’s also prime territory for identity thieves. Ask clients to review and edit this sample Facebook profile for potentially damaging information that ID thieves might look for. Have a discussion about how to have fun online without endangering your identity.
- A Tale of Two Savers emphasizes that the earlier you begin saving, the more your savings will grow due to the magic of compound interest.
For this exercise, create brief stories of two people who commit to saving $2,000 a year and earn 10% interest on their invested savings. The first person begins saving in her early 20’s, scrimping and saving to meet her specified goal and then stops saving. The second person waits until he’s more established in his career--around the age of 32--before he begins saving. Lead a class discussion about which of the two people saved the most over their lifetime and why. Even though the second person saves longer, his overall investment will not catch up to the first saver who began earlier. The moral of the story should be that it’s better to begin saving early and often to take the most advantage of compound interest so your savings will grow. - You Be the Lender is a scenario based activity allowing participants to evaluate both good and bad ideas for using credit. Create your own credit scenarios around issues like buying a big-screen TV or taking out a student loan, then ask clients to review them and decide whether each is a good credit risk. By taking on the role of a lender, participants will be able to recognize when it’s worthwhile to use credit and when it’s not.
