Budgeting for Kids: Money for Minis

There are two things that kids seem to love that parents struggle with: screen time and spending money. But what if we pulled some good ol’ fashioned parental psychology moves and leveraged those interests into lessons about budgeting for kids?

Admit it, parents—we’ve all had a moment of fantasizing about living off of the grid, if only to avoid another 22 minute long, agonizingly slow play-by-play of some stranger’s Minecraft village YouTube video at the dinner table. A few of us have done the math to figure out how many hours of our work lives we’ve traded for L.O.L. Surprise Dolls. (Too many!)

We feel your pain. That’s why we thought it was a good idea to create a video series that teaches financial literacy to help you raise money smart kids. Our favorite bearded giant Ben and wise-sage money guru Kelly are here to teach, educate, and help your kids learn about essential skills about spending and saving, making good financial decisions, why it’s important to create a budget, how to earn money, and other personal finance lessons.

Teaching Kids About Budgeting

Learn More About Budgeting for Kids

What: a YNAB video series to teach elementary school-aged kids lessons about money to encourage them to plump up their piggy banks.

Where: The YNAB Kids playlist, which is part of the YNAB YouTube channel

When: Whenever works for you! Turn it into a homeschool lesson, a lazy day activity, a prerequisite for earning an allowance, or a screen time negotiation tactic. Yes, you CAN watch more YouTube…as long as it’s about budgeting for kids.

Why: It’s never too early to learn how to save money, manage a bank account, and the joy of watching your savings account grow! This short term investment of time can lead to long term success.

What else: With every episode, there’s an activity sheet to download, print, and color along with each episode. Plus, a follow-up Kid Talk episode from Hannah where we hear from real kids!

Topics

Each video is short—about five minutes each. We’re covering:

• What is money?
• How do we earn money?
• 3 things we have money for
• Wants vs Needs
• How do we make a financial plan for our money?
• Where do we keep our money?
• Why shouldn’t we spend all of our money?

Teach your minis that money matters! And if you’re looking to make budgeting a family affair, sign up for YNAB’s free 34 day trial.