Since the World Financial Crisis, I suddenly feel constantly bombarded with financial and economic language and information that has never really entered my consciousness before. I think this is the same for our children too. Whether it be an unemployed parent, less 'treats' in the weekly shop, or fewer presents at Christmas and birthdays, so many children are now feeling first-hand the effects that the banking collapse has caused worldwide. As a result, many are starting to become more interested in why 'we don't have so much money anymore.'

With this in mind, I have thought up some simple ways to introduce the concepts for younger children. These suggestions also help children to learn important money skills, especially the value of money. You can adapt the ideas for many age groups, whether they're used for a one-day activity or a longer project.

Currency Race

Children are fascinated by foreign currency. Get the children to bring in as much different currency as you can and find out the exchange rates on the Internet. Create pictograms of how much of each currency you can get for 1 of your home currency. Then make a league table of currencies. Which one can we get most of for £1 or $1? Although simple, this helps younger children to see that money is worth different amounts in different countries. You can even change the league table over time as the currencies change.

A Class Economy

Set up your own mini class economy! It can run for a lesson, a day or over a longer time (with older pupils). It brings up lots of questions that are pertinent in the real world and helps the children to really see the important role money plays in our everyday lives.

At its most detailed, it's suitable for 9–11 year olds, but some of the activities on their own can be adapted for younger pupils.

• Children can design their own currency. This gives you a chance to do lots of counting to find out what 'base' is the best – usually ten wins as it's easier. It also builds on the currency race idea as children can study the existing currencies to get their own ideas.
• Price up everything in the classroom using the class currency or your normal currency (using plastic coins). Pencils, calculators, rulers, paper ... everything has a price. Allocate (or let the children decide) on an allowance for the day or lesson, and then they have to 'pay' when they use something. This is brilliant for handling money work including addition, subtraction and giving change. For much younger children (age 5–7) they can have a class shop and role play using their 'new' currency.
• When they have to 'pay' for things they take for granted normally, children soon realise the need to be careful with their 'money', especially if the allowance is carefully planned. It soon brings up the question of 'What do we do when we've run out but we still need something?'
• This can lead to the idea of the central class bank. Children can 'loan' money, but they'll have to pay it back with interest. It's best to set this as a fixed price, rather than a % unless you are working with much older children. Suddenly they ask 'How can we pay it back?' and realise how debt can quickly become a problem.
• At this point, you can go even further and introduce the idea of trade. As well as their currency allowance, children can have a set amount of 'goods'; for example, one group can 'own' the pencils. They can make agreements amongst themselves, swap or sell items to make sure people have what they need. It's amazing how enterprising (and sneaky!) they can become.

The opportunities here are endless and even lead to class enterprise, as I shared in a blog last year. Even without delving into the deeper economic issues, such as running out of money and debt, you can cover lots of maths objectives and get the children interested in current affairs.

Obviously, young children don't need burdening with the financial woes of the world, but these ideas are just in response to their growing questions and exposure to financial matters. Only this week, one of my 7-year-olds asked me 'Why is there a problem with Greece?' If they are interested, I think it's important we bring down the concepts to their level.

This article is from Planet's educator-penned blogging series: the Planet Teachers' Lounge.

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