Teaching kids stocks: 3 kids stock market activities

The stock market is one of those concepts that most people recognize—it’s a place where individual shares of a company can be bought and sold, which is indicative of the health of the economy. But, when you get into the nitty-gritty details, most people will draw a blank—such as the details of how to buy and sell those shares, what companies sell what shares, and what the risk of buying each share is. Though these concepts aren’t easy for many adults to grasp, that’s exactly why it’s incredibly important to get ahead and start teaching kids stocks basics. Here are 3 kids stock market activities to get them learning now.

Financial talk as a parent

It can be hard to believe that one day your little one will be all grown up and be making important financial decisions of their own. When that day comes, they might decide what companies to buy stocks in.

The cliche is true—they grow up so fast. So, the sooner you start teaching them these concepts, the more equipped they will be to make smart, informed decisions about their finances.

To help you out with teaching kids stocks, the team at Turbo Intuit has put together a helpful list of interactive, printable activities for you to start a necessary conversation with your kiddo about the ins and outs of the stock market.

Teaching kids about the stock market:

1. Savings jar labels activity

To start out, keep it simple with the basics of saving versus investing. If your child gets an allowance, print out the saving and investing labels and stick them on two separate jars.

Make sure they understand how important it is to have a savings account to put money away for later, and that they shouldn’t spend all they have right away. Then, break down the differences between saving and investing through demonstration with the labels.

Tell them that if they put their allowance in the savings jar, they can retrieve their money from that account at any time with no penalty, but also no reward. That’s important when teaching kids stocks.

If they choose to invest, the more money they have in the jar at the end of the month, you’ll add a certain sum to the jar. Invest more the older they get, and they’ll learn the value of saving versus investing in no time.

2. More money lessons with a pair of dice

Another activity to get your child thinking about financial topics is as easy as picking up a pair of dice. Give your little one five candies, and tell them that if they roll the dice and land on a 3-6 they get five more.

However, if they roll a 1 or 2 instead, they lose all their candies. Let them decide if they want to roll or not, and then play with adjusting the odds.

Use the printable risk and reward scale to help them visualize risks and rewards even further.

3. Use a printable tracker for teaching kids stocks

An easy way to teach your kid about financial topics like the stock market is simply by letting them track the stock market for themselves. Using the printable stock tracker, look up three or four stocks together and write them down—and get creative on what stocks you track.

Each week, look up the stock and track their current prices with your youngsters. After tracking for a month or so, they’ll soon see the usual up and down fluctuations of stock prices.

The lesson here? They’ll understand just how important it is to put your money on a strong, reliable share.

Takeaway on teaching kids about the stock market

No matter how you choose to teach your little one about topics like the stock market, remember the goal: raising a money-smart child who grows up to both understand the value of a dollar and make smart financial decisions. There’s no time like the present, so start teaching kids stocks today!