Money Camps Teach Kids to Move Beyond the Piggy Bank
Ever heard of summer camp that teaches kids to become financially responsible? Kathernine C. Harris, owner of Turning Point Financial Services in North Carolina, has been running such a money camp for the past 2 years. Catering to children 10 and older, the program emphasizes learning about responsible financial planning including risk management. The camp incorporates games, role-playing, and other group activities to make the experience of becoming financially savvy fun for kids.
In Reno, another such camp incorporated piggy banks in their endeavor to help teach financial wisdom to children. The camp was put together by Rainshadow Community Charter High School and Remcor Real Estate, the latter of which donated piggy banks to the youngsters. The piggy banks were distibuted in pairs–one to represent expendable income, the other for savings. Using the piggy banks with games such as Monopoly, the children were taught about interest, credit, and wise investing.
[news sources: RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL -”Area teens attend ‘loot’ camp”, by Annie Flanzraich posted 7-17-06; THE NEWS AND OBSERVER -”Passing the piggy-bank stage”, by Vicki Lee Parker, posted 7-16-06]
We think that money camps like these are a timely idea and hope to hear about more financial education programs made for children. Piggy banks not only make the best introduction to the much needed principles of financial wisdom, but they can also be easily incorporated into learning programs that even teach the complex principles of interest, credit, and investments. When children can physically interact with these principles using real money and piggy banks, the elements are in place for permanent learning from experience vs. the philosophical lessons given on paper or oral instruction.
