Shopkeeper’s Game – Learn about Money

We want our children to know how to handle money properly, and it’s never too late to start teaching them. One way to make learning about money fun for smaller children is to play a shopkeeper’s game. Not only will they have fun setting up shop, if you have play money on hand, it can be a real learning experience.

Your children most likely go to the store with you as you do grocery shopping for the family. They’ve seen how grocery stores are set up, how the cashiers run the groceries through to get a total, and how the baggers put everything in bags for you to carry home. They may ask to go to the store with you because they find the whole process fascinating. Why not take advantage of their interest to help them learn about money?

There are toys on the market that will simulate the sounds of a real cash register. You can also buy play money, or it may come with the toy register. This really is a perfect way to help your children learn about money before they are expected to use it in their daily life.

Instead of throwing away boxes, bottles, and cans that store food items after they’re empty, hold onto them and clean them up. Your child can reuse these items for their pretend store. They can set these items up in your living room, dining room, or their bedroom similar to the way the grocery stores are set up.

If the items you got from the grocery store don’t have prices on them, you can get stickers and make prices for them. Your child can pretend to be either a customer or the cashier. Both people have to know about money, so they will be able to learn math and about money by playing either one.

When you’re just starting to teach your child about money, it’s a good idea to start with change only. Help them recognize each coin and how much each one is worth. As they get comfortable using coins, begin adding in the lower value paper money.

If your child is playing cashier, go through the “store” and pick out some items. Then take them to check out. Use the play money to pay for the items, and check to see that they give you the correct change.

Then let them play shopper so they can pay for the items they want. Help them add up the items as they “shop” and try to give you the closest amount to get the least change. Then help them learn to always count their change before they leave the cash register.

It’s never too early to teach your children about money, how to handle it, and how to spend it wisely. You can use the shopkeeper’s game to help them learn about money. It may also increase their general math skills and make them more confident about using real money.

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