Have you ever wanted to buy something but you didn’t have enough money? This is a problem that people of all ages have. One solution is to set aside small amounts of money until you have saved enough to buy what you want. We save money to get things we can’t afford to buy now. Saving for the future requires patience but it can be worth it when we get what we want the most.
In this lesson, you will identify the steps to being a successful saver and learn how saving for tomorrow requires giving something up today.
Follow along with your classmates as you learn how to create a savings place.
Choose the "Short-Term or Long-Term?" activity to learn about other short-term (less time to save for) and long-term goals (more time to save for).
Read the story about the ant and the grasshopper . Find out how the grasshopper learned about the importance of saving.
As a class, you will talk about these questions after learning about The Ant and the Grasshopper.
- What were the ants saving for?
- What did the ants give up?
- What was the grasshopper's opportunity cost?
- What have you had to give up to get something else?
As a class, you will discuss the following questions. You may read along with the teacher during the class discussion, or you may work on your own before the discussion writing down answers to the questions.
- What is saving?
- Why do people save?
- Why is it important to establish goals?
- What are your short-term savings goals?
- What are your long-term savings goals?
- How do people get the money they want to save for their goal?
- Where might you get money to save?
- If you have a piggy bank, where could you put it so that you can get it easily and it will not get lost or stolen?
Saving for the future requires patience and giving up some things you might want today. By setting aside money today you may be able to reach an important goal. When you reach your goal, you'll probably look back and decide that giving up some things along the way was a good idea.
You are going to create a plan to reach one of your savings goals. When people set a savings goal it is important to know how much the goal will cost. Your teacher will provide you with catalogs and newspaper advertisements for toys and other items you may want to purchase for yourself or someone else.
Record your goal and plan for achieving it using the activity sheet "The ABCs of Saving".
- You can practice your skills of identifying coin values and using a mouse by clicking on and dragging the coins to Ed's Bank
. The money that you are able to put in Ed’s bank can then be used to go shopping. You can watch Ed’s quirky reactions as he makes his purchases.
- Use the Googolplex Saving Calculator to see how long it will take to save for their goals.