When looking for gifts for 10 year old boys, you might be wondering how you can help them have fun but learn something useful too. One of the most important things to teach kids is how to handle money, but this isn’t always an easy task. If your boys are getting older but you aren’t confident that they have a handle on spending and saving, these games and gift ideas could help them to learn more without leaving them feeling overwhelmed.
Shopkeeper set
Kids of all ages love playing shopkeeper, especially if they’re playing with you. Think about buying a till and some plastic fruit and vegetables that you can place into a basket. It’s your choice whether you use real money to play with or fake notes and coins that look real. This activity will help children become more familiar with buying things and working out how much change they should receive. Don’t be afraid to get creative and use household objects to set up a little shop. For more advanced learners, you could even base prices on real life so children can learn how much things cost in the real world.
Monopoly
Nearly everyone has played a game of Monopoly in their lives, but it’s actually a good way to teach kids about cash too. It not only helps children get used to handling money, but also builds their awareness of cash flows and teaches them how investments can be valuable. Interestingly, in Monopoly, it’s not always the most expensive properties that pay off in the long run, helping kids to understand that strategy is key to managing their finances.
Rare coins
Sometimes money isn’t interesting enough on its own for kids, but collecting rare coins can add an additional level of intrigue. It’s up to you how you decide to play with these coins, but buying a set of unusual ones might mean your child pays a bit more attention to them in the future. You could encourage kids to count up their coins to create different piles of money. Later, you can discuss what coins they need to collect in future to increase the amount they have.
Piggybank
A piggybank is a standard object for every child’s bedroom. It doesn’t have to have a lot of money in it, but it’s a really good way to teach kids about saving. Whether you buy them a money box that you have to smash to open or one they can use time and time again, they’ll quickly learn how saving their pocket money can have benefits over spending it right away. Buying multiple piggy banks for a child can also encourage them to separate their coins or to have one for just saving and another they can dip into to buy sweets when they want to. This helps to create a bank account parallel before they have one of their own.
Teaching kids about money does require some creativity, but when done right, you can have a lot of fun with it.
