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Fun Games to Learn About Credit

Learning about credit can be pretty fun! Here are our favorite games to play with your siblings and friends.

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Many of our parents didn’t teach us about money or how to manage our credit which caused us to learn the hard way. Kids now have the opportunity to learn valuable lessons from parents, adults, and friends about key money mistakes or lessons learned that will allow you to be successful in life. 

Learning about money and credit in a fun, engaging way helps younger children stay involved and not even realize that they are learning. Studies have shown that kids and parents learn best together when playing together in an environment where it’s ok to make mistakes because this environment encourages growth. 

Talking about money has always been discouraged because we were taught as kids that it should stay private. If our parents were having financial problems, no one knew about it because it wasn’t something that our parents were comfortable discussing. 

Schools were relied on to teach us about money and credit but never did. Some classes taught basic budgeting but nothing about credit or how to use it. Learning budgeting is great, but not knowing the full picture of money management has proven to set us up for failure.

Kids now can learn from those who have made mistakes and from fun games that teach money management and how to use credit to get ahead. 

Let’s discuss these fun ways of learning!

Wise Pockets Clubhouse and Library

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Lending and borrowing
  • Earning
  • Saving
  • Responsible spending

Intended Age Group

Kindergarten to Grade 5

About Wise Pockets Clubhouse and Library

Fun, relatable characters share their experiences with money and credit in short and colorful stories that kids can navigate for themselves using buttons that are easy to identify and click. Teachers and parents love this resource for their kids!

Cat Insanity Interactive Game

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Interest rate
  • Choosing the best interest rate
  • Compound interest
  • Computer skills 
  • Math

Intended Age Group

Grade 3 and older

About Cat Insanity Interactive Game

This game is 5 minutes long and fast paced. Start the game by choosing a cute cat to feed and each cat has an interest rate disguised as a multiplication rate, meaning that the cats multiply at that rate. The cat needs to be fed a certain number of times but kids are only given so much cat food to feed them. Each round, the number of cats multiplies and you have a time frame to click to feed the cats before the time runs out.

Sheppard Software: Early Stage Math Games

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Basic math skills
  • Counting
  • Coins and their values
  • Basic computer skills

Intended Age Group

Kindergarten to Grade 5

About Sheppard Software: Early Stage Math Games

This series of games cover topics from coins to counting to geography. This resource provides a lot of opportunities for kids to learn many subjects on one easy-to-navigate website that is approved for homeschooling, and kids enjoy the interactive activities.

Shady Sam Loan Shark Game

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Compound interest
  • Shady business practices
  • Annual percentage rate (APR)
  • Choosing good terms before accepting a loan

Intended Age Group

Grade 6 and older

About Shady Sam Loan Shark Game

This game teaches kids that not every lender is a good lender with their best interests in mind. Some lenders offer loan terms and interest rates that are in the lender’s best interests and are shady. This game teaches kids how quickly interest can compound and “rewards” kids with trinkets on their virtual lending desks for each shady loan they issue. Each customer has a story, and parents can discuss with kids why this person shouldn’t take out a loan for this purpose.

Practical Money Skills: Financial Football

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Personal finance
  • Money management
  • Computer skills
  • Football play & stats
  • Saving
  • Spending
  • Budgeting

Intended Age Group

Grade 6 and older

About Practical Money Skills: Financial Football

Young football fans can choose their favorite NFL football team to play as, answer key questions about personal finance topics, and go for the touchdown! Play as a single player or with a group for a bigger challenge of your skills! This is a fast-paced game that engages kids in age-appropriate games for their skill level.

The Stock Market Game

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Stock market basics
  • How businesses manage their debt
  • Graphing/charting
  • Interacting with Financial professionals live to ask questions
  • Assessments
  • Government/civics

Intended Age Group

Grade 4 and older

About The Stock Market Game

Provides students with real-world learning by offering a virtual learning space using a hypothetical $100,000 portfolio tied to the live stock market. This game teaches economics, debt management on a large scale, investing, and personal finance in an interactive environment where it’s ok to fail because failing means learning and growth. Kids can collaborate with their friends, parents, and teachers to compete to win an invite-only trip to Wall Street.

Dave Ramsey’s ACT Your Wage! Board Game

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • How to get out of debt
  • Debt management
  • Budgeting
  • Friendly competition
  • Spending
  • Saving
  • Giving

Intended Age Group

Grade 5 and older

About Dave Ramsey’s Act Your Wage Board Game

Dave Ramsey is an established name in the personal finance realm that has helped millions of people globally get out of debt and stay out of debt. He is passionate about generational wealth and changing your family tree by teaching kids, teens, and adults about debt and budgeting to stay out of debt. This game offers various adult scenarios of having a job, debt, and a paycheck. Each card has a different living situation. Kids work to pay off their debt using their paycheck and strive to be the first one to yell, “I’m debt-free!” to end the game.

Winning Moves Games Pay Day, The Classic Edition

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Social interactions
  • Earning money (paychecks)
  • Buying property
  • Budgeting
  • Paying debt
  • Savings
  • Interest rates

Intended Age Group

Grade 2 and older

About Winning Moves Games Pay Day

A family classic first released in 1975, this fast play game takes about 15 minutes and two passes around the board that keeps kids engaged. Each player is given a salary and has to pay off bills/debts while adding to their savings. The game board is structured like a 30 day month and has daily activities like getting bills in the mail. Savings is paid interest at 10%, but debt is charged 20%, so players choose how best to manage their money.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Build a home and community
  • Save money to pay for upgrades
  • Pay off debt
  • Construct furniture and tools
  • Choosing loans and paying them back
  • Work equals money
  • Commodities and the stock market

Intended Age Group

Pre-K and older

About Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Parents use this game to teach their kids about personal finance, saving, spending, paying off debt, working for money, business principles, and goal setting. Kids as young as 3 years old can engage daily with their friends and siblings while building a cause-and-effect environment where they are safe to make mistakes and get rewarded for smart financial decisions.

Monopoly Junior Board Game

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Skills Learned From This Game

  • Basic math
  • Budgeting
  • Basics of debt
  • Buying property
  • Counting
  • Currency identification
  • Spending
  • Saving

Intended Age Group

Kindergarten and older

About Monopoly Junior Board Game

This spin on a classic, well-loved board game is fast, simple, kid-friendly, and easily keeps kids engaged using a competitive environment that promotes learning. Kids can buy properties like a video game arcade or zoo and sell them to buy others. Players that go bankrupt can learn from that lesson and change their strategy for the next round.

Learning About Credit Can Be So Much Fun!

Kids and parents can learn together about credit, money, budgeting, saving, and investing in fun ways that bring families closer together while having fun doing so. Games allow us to use our imaginations in ways that bring situations to life while building positive habits that translate into real-world situations. 

Games help with learning strategy, goal setting, problem-solving, and social skills. Kids that have struggled with reading in the past have found huge benefit from game play. Playing games with friends in a classroom environment can build up a healthy level of competition and motivation.

Studies have shown that kids with increased motivation as children further develop this skill in adulthood and are more willing to pay attention in their classes while participating in their class activities. Designing games and cities within games have inspired creativity in young children and built self-esteem. Self-esteem growth in kids is important because this helps encourage social connections with friends and peers.

Credit is a critical tool in building wealth, and the earlier in life kids can start learning, the longer they have to grow their skills. Gameplay is the perfect opportunity to establish relationships with kids and promote growth.

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About the Author

Jessica Anglin

Jessica was raised in a household where her parents didn't know how to pay bills on time and indulged in life's pleasures on a consistent basis in order to cover the misery from working jobs they hated for money that wasn't enough to live off of. She took on the role of caregiver to 4 siblings at age 15 and started her first business selling tie-dye t-shirts in order to buy food and provide a stable home. Nineteen years later, she owns three successful businesses, has earned an MBA in Finance, and works daily to set an example for the next generation on how to build wealth so they never face the same struggles.

Last updated on: May 24, 2022