Money Makes the World Go Around!

Three occurrences in the last few weeks have made me think about our children’s experiences with money and led to writing this blog in the hope to explain the importance of exposing children to using coins and notes to understand this vital commodity.

£1 in my pocket

I went over a toll bridge on a diversion on my way to work this week and handed over my trolley pound to pay, rushing off in my hurry to get there, without waiting for the change.

Do you have a trolley pound in your pocket or your car? This is about the only cash I use!

The lost £20 note

Last week, my children took a £20 note to town to buy something for the dog.  They lost it before they got to town (but were very sorry!).  My son is old enough to have a debit card so popped back later for the thing for the dog, without even handling any actual money during the transaction.

When did you last pay for something with a note? Would your children know how much change to expect?

“Here’s your change!”

Recently, I was out shopping with a primary school aged relative, who didn’t pick up her penny change as the shop assistant didn’t point it out to her but slid it onto the counter whilst asking about the receipt.

When was the last time you checked your change? We used to do this all the time when we used cash more frequently.

What does the national curriculum say about money?

In primary school, using money might start with role play, in the pretend shop in the classroom, moving on to identifying coins, then paying and giving change.  When I was a new teacher, I went to great lengths to create an amazing travel agents in my reception classroom.  The children mostly knew what to do with it, as they did when we had a role play post office, and then a fancy dress shop. I’m not sure my own children will remember going to a real travel agent in a shop, and they’ve never been to a fancy dress shop.

Role play depends largely on children having seen adults doing things but we don’t go in certain shops anymore, and often can’t even point them out on the high street. How often do children go to the post office, or into a bank?  I popped into the bank this week to change the address on my daughter’s account and have to wait until I can take her in during the Easter holidays as they’re not open after school anymore.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children experience counting and money through play. They might even go on a very exciting school trip to a shop!

At Key Stage 1 (years 1 and 2, ages 5 – 7):

• Recognise and Use Coins: Identify and understand the value of different coins, and use the symbols £ and p accurately.

• Combine Amounts: Combine coins to make specific amounts, enhancing their ability to calculate totals.

• Solve Money Problems: Apply their understanding of money to solve simple problems, including giving change.

  
  

At Key Stage 2 (years 3 to 6, ages 7 – 11) the focus on money comes through a range of problem solving activities and reasoning problems, with the expectation that the foundations are in place from Key Stage 1. As children experience actual money less frequently in their early childhood, it may be becoming more difficult for them to get to grips with it at school.

Things have changed and we now do so many things online, from our phones, without handing over any actual money in the process. I’ve become a Vinted seller recently and send multiple parcels without going near the post office, never mind using money to pay to send them.

So how can we help our children to be savvy with their money, when everything is so digital?

Using cash yourself is one of the best examples, but there are now many places that don’t take cash at all, so that’s not an easy option.

Here are a few ways to expose children to cash without breaking the bank:

• Set up a little role play shop at home, first with only penny coins, then introducing the others later. When you move on to £1s, £2s and notes, use whole pounds for the prices first, to make calculating change easier.

• Give your children a small amount of money to buy two or three items that they will eat from your shopping list. They can go through the checkout separately, and can use the self-checkout if there’s still one that takes cash!

• Give them a budget for a magazine (though it’s hard to find one that’s under £5 now), and the money to pay for it.

• Let them hand over the money and get the change if you pay for anything in cash.

• Go to the bank or post office (if they’re open outside school hours!) and change a note for the same amount in cash, or a coin for smaller coins.

• Use the take away menu or toy catalogue to price things up and decide how much money would be needed to buy the things they’d like – a great way to spend an hour or two in November – give post-it note tabs to mark the pages first!

• Do a car boot sale in the warmer months!

• Visit the arcades (with a defined budget!). Remember your change when you go bowling or your way past the arcade games could be costly, as we found out!

• Define an amount to put in a charity donation container, and let your child count out the coins to do so.

• Make labels showing different amounts and use different ways to make up that total, e.g. for £2, you could pay with a £2 coin, two £1 coins, four 50ps, and then combinations of coins like £1, 50p, two 20ps and a 10p.

  
  

Counting money requires a few requisites:

• Counting in 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s and 20s.

• Counting forward and back.

• Knowledge of number bonds for quick calculation (pairs of numbers that make a given total, e.g to make 10: 5+5, 4+6, 3+7 etc.

• Identifying the coins on both sides, as well as those that don’t have the value written on the front. The colours and shapes help with this.

• Adding one and two-digit numbers.

• Subtracting one and two-digit numbers.

  
  

What about saving money?

Budgeting and saving is tricky for most of us but it’s really important to enable children to begin saving. Do they know what ‘saving for a rainy day means?’

There are lots of options for accounts for children but here are a few ideas:

• You can have a savings account linked to your accounts, such as the HSBC Future Saver account.These accounts often have a better interest rate than adult accounts.

• Premium Bonds start from a £25 investment with nsandi. There’s no monthly interest payment but each £1 bond is entered into a draw each month with the chance to win anything from £25 to £1million!  In March 2025, a bond holder with only £100 saved won £1million!

• At around seven years old, your child can have a current account, probably without interest nowadays, but they can pay in money and watch the total grow on their statements as they add more.

• Once they’re around 11 years old, they can have a debit card and watch their own total decreasing rapidly!

• There are lots of options for debit cards and some, though they have a monthly fee, enable you to top up the total and see how your child spends. Starling Kite, NatWest Rooster and Go Henry are just a few.

  
  

Earn commission on your shopping

There’s another way to save for your children using a Kidstart commission account.  You sign up to Kidstart and use it as a click through, searching for the company you want to buy from then shopping as normal.  As an example, you might be able to get £1.50 or so on your Boots sun cream order, and £50 on your TUI holiday spend!  It takes a few months for some commission to come through, but when you reach £25, it’s automatically transferred into your nominated account for your child.  Family members can use it, too!

If you’d rather put your commission to good use for your child’s school or club, Easy Fundraising and Asda have schemes where you can click through and earn commission for good causes.

The days of the piggy bank and saving for a rainy day may be long gone but there’s still a lot to learn about money and how to manage it. If we can help our little people along the way, it can only help towards their financial management in future.

Written by Rachel Mackay for Ryedale and Thirsk Mumbler, and Scarborough and Whitby Mumbler in March 2025. 

Please follow on Facebook: RM SEND: Family SENCo, Bespoke Tutoring and Family Learning Blog.