Practical Financial Literacy for Middle School: Activities, Lessons, and Resources

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While middle school students may not yet be prepared for full-time employment or filing tax returns, it’s essential to start embedding fundamental personal finance concepts early. A few strategically placed lessons on financial literacy can familiarize students with budgeting, income, taxes, and credit. This groundwork will equip them to make wise and balanced financial choices when they eventually enter the workforce.

Looking for inspiration for an upcoming financial literacy unit? Explore a variety of middle school lessons and activities focused on personal finance. These resources are so informative that even parents might learn something new by reviewing their children’s assignments!

How to Teach Financial Literacy in Middle School

The financial literacy lessons for middle schoolers build on the foundations established in elementary education. They introduce more advanced economic concepts, transforming basic understandings of currency into more nuanced principles of personal finance.

Key financial literacy topics for middle school students include:

• Budgeting
• Saving and spending
• Income and expenses
• Needs versus wants
• Salary potential and expectations
• Student loans and debt management
• Compound interest
• Borrowing and lending
• Credit and credit cards
• Financial security
• Identifying financial risks and pitfalls

Additionally, middle schoolers need practical opportunities to apply and comprehend these topics. By the time they reach adulthood, they should possess a solid understanding of the essentials of personal finance.

Budgeting and Saving Activities for Middle School

Extend lessons on financial literacy for kids with engaging activities centered around budgeting and saving. Middle school students can practice the concepts of saving versus spending while utilizing CCSS math skills to analyze how various purchases impact their budgets.

• Practice creating a budget: Collaborate with students to compile a list of common expenses they might encounter, whether in their current lives or a hypothetical adult scenario, and have them work in pairs to create budgets based on assigned income levels.
• Team savings challenge: Provide teams with $500 in fictional currency and challenge them to devise a budget that maximizes their savings.
• Simulated grocery store: Organize a classroom shopping experience where students must purchase essential items without exceeding their budget.
• Calculate savings account growth: Encourage students to research and calculate the potential value of savings accounts and interest rates, leading them to choose the most beneficial option.

Practice Paying Bills and Making a Budget

Paying bills might not be the most exciting aspect of adulthood, but neglecting this responsibility can lead to severe consequences. Equip students with the knowledge of earning and budgeting money through resources tailored to middle school financial literacy.

Real-World Budgeting & Finance: A Personal Financial Literacy Project
By Courtney Schermerhorn – Mommy is a Teacher
Subject: Math

Enhance your financial literacy unit with a project that includes 13 steps to understanding personal finance. With 14 posters and instructional videos covering job searches, insurance, budgeting for bills, and more, this resource makes learning about financial basics engaging and accessible for young learners.

Planning a Dream Vacation – A Financial Literacy Activity (Print + Digital)
By STEAM Vault
Subjects: Math

Demonstrate to students how adults plan vacations by showing them that budgeting can lead to enjoyable experiences like a dream trip. This math resource includes budgeting sheets, presentation guidelines, and activities on proportional relationships and currency exchange rates.

Intriguing Activities About Income and Expenses

Middle schoolers are now at an age where they can begin to understand the connection between jobs and income. If they haven’t made this connection yet, now is the perfect moment! Engage students with activities that highlight the relationship between income and expenses, which they can complete individually, in pairs, or in larger groups.

• Research various career incomes: Task students with investigating both entry-level positions and long-term careers, including factors affecting income such as education, experience, and location.
• Differentiate needs vs. wants: Help students compile a list of necessary expenses (such as utilities, food, and housing) versus discretionary spending (like entertainment and travel).
• Plan a class event: Assign students a budget for organizing a class event, challenging them to manage expenses while staying within their limits.
• Establish paid class jobs: Implement a system of paid class jobs using fake money, illustrating how income can directly influence students’ lives.

Show Students How to Balance and Track Expenses

Even though personal finance has evolved significantly in recent decades (remember writing checks?), the core concepts remain the same. Use resources designed to reinforce the fundamentals of tracking and categorizing expenses, prompting students to think critically about their financial situations.

Balancing a Check Register Interactive Notebook
By Edison Education
Subject: Math

This resource is designed for contemporary students who may not frequently write checks but still need to learn how to balance a check register. The interactive notebook includes a foldable note project along with warm-up and exit slips that guide students through the process of monitoring expenses and balancing their register.

Financial Literacy – Types of Expenses – Complete Lesson Bundle – Middle or High
By The Confidence Classroom by Ashlyn C

This comprehensive resource includes all the necessary materials to teach students about various types of expenses on a balance sheet. Students will compare needs and wants and prioritize expenses through ten bell ringers, lesson slides, scenario activities, writing extensions, and a final assessment.

Interesting Ideas for Credit and Debt Literacy

When planning a financial literacy unit for middle school, it can be easy to overlook the complex topics of credit and debt. Although students may not be applying for credit cards or loans just yet, a solid understanding of these concepts can significantly enhance their financial literacy and help them avoid pitfalls in the future.

• Analyze sample credit card statements: Using example credit card statements with various expenses and interest rates, students can collaboratively assess the spending habits of the cardholder.
• Cash versus credit comparison: Conduct a lesson focusing on the differences between purchasing items with cash and using credit cards, incorporating interest rates and percentages.
• Debt repayment simulations: Assign groups a set amount of debt, including secured and revolving debt, and have them calculate the time it would take to pay it off.
• Research student loans: Encourage students to examine different types of student loans (federal, private, family) and analyze the return on investment for various degrees and careers.

Give Students Some Credit with Credit Card Games and Activities

You don’t need to give middle schoolers a credit card to teach them about credit! Introduce them to the basics with interactive activities and games that explain the advantages and disadvantages of credit and debt.

Financial Literacy Game Credit Cards Activity Life Skills FCS, Personal Finance
By Twins and Teaching Culinary Arts and FACS
Subject: Economics, Family Consumer Sciences

This engaging board game demystifies credit cards and debt by providing students with a fun way to learn. Complete with game questions and cards, along with a Google slideshow to review answers, this resource empowers students with essential knowledge.

Thought-Provoking Lessons on Taxes

Middle schoolers might claim they don’t need to learn about taxes yet, but if they’ve ever paid sales tax on a purchase, it’s time to introduce them to the concept! Prepare them for future financial literacy lessons in high school with activities that demystify the basics of taxation.

• Explore tax rates globally: Have students research and calculate the differences in tax rates across various countries, as well as the public services funded by these taxes.
• Identify resources funded by taxes: Create a list of resources that students utilize, which are supported by tax funding, such as public schools, infrastructure, parks, and government programs.
• Board races for calculating sales tax: Challenge students to calculate their state’s sales tax on given amounts by racing up to the board.
• Practice completing income tax forms: Provide sample income tax forms and assign income levels, deductions, and other hypothetical scenarios to different groups.

Review the Way Taxes Work in Personal Finance

Taxes are not just a seasonal concern; they impact everyone throughout the year. Use financial literacy resources aimed at middle school students to clarify how taxes fit into their everyday financial lives.

Personal Financial Literacy TEKS Unit | Budgeting, Tax, and Interest Notes
By Maneuvering the Middle
Subject: Math

This resource offers a complete unit on numerous concepts, including personal budgeting, sales and income tax, and monetary incentives. Skill-based problems and real-world scenarios encourage students to apply their math skills, supported by various assessment levels to gauge understanding.

Discounts and Sales Tax Financial Literacy Task Cards: Digital and Print
By Couple of Teachers
Subject: Math

Explore how taxes and compound interest influence discounts and sales through an activity featuring 16 task cards focused on tax-related word problems. This assignment is ideal as classwork or homework within a personal finance and financial literacy unit.

More Ways to Teach Financial Literacy

Wondering how to integrate financial literacy into your already packed middle school curriculum? Discover a few strategies to effectively incorporate personal finance into your lesson plans:

• Listen to financial literacy podcasts aimed at teens, such as NPR’s Teen Money Matters or the Money Moves Podcast created by Gen-Z for Financial Literacy.
• Incorporate personal finance games into your classroom activities or assign them for students to enjoy at home with family.
• The U.S. FDIC provides a free curriculum on financial literacy for middle school students with 12 lessons aligned to standards, perfect for building your own curriculum.
• Add financial word problems to your math assignments or assessments.
• Focus on financial literacy lessons related to math during National STEM Day (November 8th).
• Incorporate personal finance topics into math and social studies curricula during Financial Literacy Month each April.
• Encourage language arts students to write stories about financial situations after conducting research on personal finance.
• Organize a field trip to a local bank for students to learn from financial professionals.
• Show educational videos that cover essential personal finance topics. The Making Cents video series from PBS Learning Media covers a variety of finance topics, while Next Gen Personal Finance offers many videos discussing credit, investments, consumer skills, and more.

Introduce Financial Literacy Before High School

Although pre-teens may not be earning an income just yet, this is the ideal time to begin teaching financial literacy resources tailored for middle school students. These lessons will be relevant to their future high school experiences and adult lives, laying the groundwork for understanding essential financial concepts long before they receive their first paycheck. Discover more middle school financial literacy resources to practice concepts related to math, economics, and personal choice.