play with money

The easiest way to help little ones comprehend why you go to work each day is to let them play with money. We’re not talking about allowing your toddler to get into your mason jar of pocket change (coins are a massive choking hazard), but about letting older tots (at least age three) handle the currency. “Because kids today don’t see cash often, thanks to credit cards and online bill paying, it’s not always a tangible concept for them,” says Kelley Keehn, author of The Prosperity Factor for Kids. (Note: Whether or not you’re filthy rich, money is truly dirty—wash coins in dish soap and hot water before giving them to your child.)

Kensington, Brooklyn, mom Stefanie Gunning’s three-year-old daughter, Emmy, can already distinguish coin denominations. “She loves to put coins in her piggy bank or stack them up by size,” says Gunning. “She’ll say, ‘I need a big, big quarter,’ or ‘I love a little, little penny.’ She has no idea that money is for buying things. It’s just another toy right now.”

That’s okay, say experts. The point is to give kids a familiarity with cash from an early age so it will be easier to have in-depth discussions later on. Gunning says that she hopes Emmy’s play will be the beginning of a lifelong dialogue between her and her daughter. “In so many families, money is a taboo subject, and as a result many people get launched into the world without a real sense of how to save, budget, invest or give to charity,” says Gunning. “We want Emmy to feel empowered to manage her own money and to make good financial choices for herself. These are all lessons for another day, but you have to start someplace.”

As your child approaches school age, you can discuss coin sizes and the images on each piece of currency—or have him collect a quarter from each state. You can also begin doing the math—explain how five nickels add up to a quarter, for example. Then move on to showing him what money can buy—like a book or a Matchbox car at the toy store. Playing board games like Life and Monopoly can be a fun way to improve his proficiency with money, too.

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