President Barack Obama has proclaimed April as National Financial Capability Month. Personal finance can be integrated into other coursework or delivered as a stand-alone course. In this post, I share some of my favorite resources divided into categories and listed in alphabetical order. I included resources for students of all ages.
Games
• Bite Club: Save for retirement while running a vampire nightclub.
• FarmBlitz: Manage farm resources to build savings and survive financial emergencies.
• Financial Football: Give your financial knowledge a workout with the latest version of Financial Football, a fast-paced, NFL-themed video game developed by Visa.
• Financial Soccer: Financial Soccer is a fast-paced, multiple-choice question game, testing players’ knowledge of financial management skills as they advance down field and try to score goals.
• Groove Nation: Dance and budget on the road to L.A.
*Bonus: My 30 favorite game and scenario based learning programs
Turn-key lessons
• BizWorld: This nonprofit inspires children to be innovative leaders through the teaching of business, entrepreneurship and finance. (Lessons must be ordered online.)
• EconEdLink: EconEdLink is a leading source of online economic and personal finance lessons and resources for educators, students and afterschool providers.
• FEFE: Provides more than 25,000 educators nationwide with free, ready-to-teach classroom materials for grades 7-12.
• My Classroom Economy: The program has the same overall objectives for all grades — to instill basic financial responsibility and teach the value of delayed gratification.
• MyMoney.gov: MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government’s website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics of financial education.
• NEFE: The nonprofit national foundation is dedicated to inspiring empowered financial decision making for individuals and families through every stage of life.
• PwC’s Earn Your Future: The curriculum is composed of easy to follow lesson plans accompanied by interactive handouts and dynamic multimedia components. The modules span grades 3-12.
• St. Louis Federal Reserve: Free classroom resources for K-16 educators to teach about money and banking, economics, personal finance and the Federal Reserve.
• The Griffith Foundation: Provides teachers with a classroom-ready product so teachers can spend less time preparing lesson plans and gathering material and more time teaching.
• VISA’s Practical Money Skills for Life: Educator-developed and educator-approved, the program has reached millions of students across the nation.
Simulations
• Awesome Island: Award-winning financial education simulation. (not free)
• Budget Challenge: Students will get paychecks (less taxes), receive bills, and have access to online bill pay and be forced to make decisions. (not free)
• Geni Revolution: Best with middle-school students, this online game gives students the chance to learn important personal finance skills as they play and compete against fellow classmates.
• Hands-on Banking: Offers all the basic money tools, skills, and information you need.
• Money Metropolis: A fun simulation for elementary students where they can make their own avatars.
Video resources and hooks
• Investopedia: Short one- to two-minute video clips perfect for introducing a topic.
• Khan Academy & Practical Money Skills: Students can make use of the extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments from any computer with access to the Internet.
• LIFE Foundation: Video clips to introduce students to various insurance products. (Videos Tab)
• OnGuardOnline: The federal government’s website full of games and videos to help students be safe, secure and responsible online.
• Paul Solmon: Personal finance topics, explained in plain English.
What high-school students need now
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook
• CFPB’s Paying For College (including FASFA)
• Federal Reserve’s Consumer’s Guide to Credit Cards
• Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information
• Internal Revenue Service Understanding Taxes
Special education resources (for financial education)
• Assets for Independence: Asset-building resources.
• Hands-on Banking: Offers all the basic money tools, skills, and information you need.
• National Disability Institute: National leaders in empowering the disability community.
• Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services: Specific resources for people with special needs from the Department of Education.
• Possibilities: A Financial Resource For Parents of Children with Disabilities: A financial resource for parents.
Mobile applications for kids
• Building Wealth: The Dallas Fed’s beginner’s guide to securing your financial future.
• Econ Ed Mobile Learning App: The St. Louis Fed’s Econ Ed Mobile Learning app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
• Financial Football: Play on an iPhone or iPad.
• FinLitTV.com: Multiple-choice practice questions from national standards.
• QuoteEd: An app to build reading and logical reasoning skills. (not free)
Additional resources
• Jump$tart’s Clearinghouse: The premier online library of financial education resources, for teachers, parents, caregivers and anyone committed to financial smarts for students.
• My LiveBinder and blog: Where I share my favorite resources.
• Money As You Grow: Developed by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, this provides 20 essential, age-appropriate financial lessons — with corresponding activities — that kids need to know as they grow.
• Money As You Learn: Developed by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, 11 personal finance big ideas integrated into English language arts and mathematics classes. The site will be launched soon.
Brian Page (@FinEdChat) was the recipient of the Ohio Department of Education Milken National Educator Award and was a 2012 Money magazine “Money Hero.” He teaches financial education and economics with Reading Community City Schools and serves as an outreach director with Cincinnati United.