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Dad Field Manual · Field card 06 · MoneyIdea · not yet tested

Spend, save, give: three jars

Your kid has a few dollars from a birthday card or chores and no idea what to do with it. In half an hour you'll have three labeled jars, a saving goal taped to one of them, and a weekly habit that takes two minutes.

Time
30 min
Cost
$0
Ages
4 to 9
Where
Kitchen table

What you need

  • Three clear plastic jars, cups or food containers with lids
  • Tape or sticky labels and a marker
  • Their own money: birthday cash, allowance or chore money, in coins and small bills
  • A picture of what they're saving for: a drawing, or a photo printed or cut from an ad

Before you start

  • Coins are a choking hazard. Most children who die from choking are under 5. Keep the jars lidded and up high if a baby or toddler lives in the house.
  • Watch the big kid and the little kid. Older siblings often hand small things to younger ones. Coins stay at the table.
  • Use plastic, not glass, so a dropped jar is just a mess.
  • The jars are theirs. Never take money out as a punishment or borrow from Save without asking. That's what teaches them the jars are real.

Steps

  1. Label three jars. Label three jars Spend, Save and Give; little kids draw a picture on each.
  2. Pick a goal for Save. Choose one thing to save for, write its real price on the Save jar, and tape a picture to it.
  3. Pick who Give is for. Let them choose who the Give jar is for and write it on the jar.
  4. Split the money. Count the money, then let them split it between the jars and say each total out loud.
  5. Measure the goal. Draw a progress line from $0 to the goal beside the Save jar and color in how far they've got.
  6. Make it weekly. Pick one day a week to split new money, count Save and color in the line.

If it stalls

  • If they want to put it all in Spend, let them, once. Next time the toy they want is out of reach, point at the empty Save jar and ask what they'd do differently. No lecture.
  • If the goal is so far off they lose interest, pick a smaller goal they can reach in three or four weeks first.
Dollars in Save · weeks to goal
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date