How to teach finances to small children

I have always wanted to introduce finances at a young age but wasn’t sure quite how just yet. Its funny how the things we worry about or try to plan out perfectly, happen rather organically a lot of the time. Im going to share how a 8 year old and a pen full of chicken is teaching great lessons!

My daughter is always trying to save for something. With her main income being money from grandparents from the teeth she had lost, she was searching for other income streams. I’m just not one to give allowance for habits kids need to form to care for themselves. I mean I don’t get a dollar every time i make my bed so, lets not get her hopes up for adulthood.

On to the chickens. We just love the experience owning chickens gives our kids. Though, waking up and immediately having to put on my boots to go let the chickens out and feed them was not my cup of tea. My 8 year old would help sometimes but lets face it, it gets old. Fast forward to when all 12 chickens started laying and started overflowing our tiny egg basket. So light bulb went off and we made a deal.

My daughter wakes up and lets the chickens out at 7:30 every morning. She feeds them, and gives them water every week day (dad helps on the weekends). Once we build up enough overflow she an her sister wash them, pack them, and sell them. Let me tell you, they go quick!! To deepen this lesson, all of the money she makes is not profit. She has to pay her sister a couple dollars for her help washing, and set aside money to pay for half the chicken feed. We cover the other half since we as a family eat a lot of the eggs too. I love this experience she is getting and hope to take it further and open a bank account, teach her how to take a percentage out for donations, and more. But right now she is saving for a hedgehog.

Thanks for coming by yall! Let me know any cool experiences yall have had teaching an learning about finances. Make sure to check us out at Instagram at lilysandleis_littlefarmhouse to see what we are up to daily.