7 Android Apps to Teach Your Kids About Money

These days, communicating with our children is just a lot harder than it used to be. There are just so many distractions out there. One of the biggest distractions preventing parents from delivering the important lessons their children need to know is the overwhelming appeal of mobile technology. With almost everyone walking around with a device that enables them to connect with the bottomless well of Information that is the Internet, it might be more advisable to apply some alternative means of parenting. Why not use those devices, something that already has the kids’ attention anyways, and use it to serve your purposes?

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There have been several apps developed for the Android OS that are very effective in teaching children of all ages how to properly manage their personal finances. Android apps for kids have been around for a long while, and there are specific apps that focus on money. These apps are a must-download for parents who want to make sure their kids grow up knowing the value of money and how important it is to handle money responsibly. Here are 7 of those apps:

Virtual Piggy

This amazing app helps children learn about proper finance management, as well as do other fun and interesting money-related things. This app allows a child to establish a budget and savings, to shop using a credit card, even donate an amount of their money to charities, and monitor their transactions. When it comes to apps that truly give a child the complete experience of handling money, this would be it.

The Game of Life

Based from the classic board game, The Game of Life comes in electronic form not just to provide hours upon hours of fun, but also to teach a lesson or two. The app is a complete replication of the board game, the objective of which is to retire with the most money in order to be considered a winner. The Game of Life teaches a child that decisions will always have consequences, whether it’s switching careers or going to school or not, and there are just things that cannot be controlled.

Bee Farming

Bee Farming is an app that gives children a chance to virtually have their own bee farm. With the clear objective of earning $ 500,000 after an initial capital of $ 100, this app teaches kids the rudiments of business, and how discipline, hard work, and attention to detail would result in success. Exposing your kid early on to Bee Farming (and similar business simulation apps) is a great way to develop a business-savvy mind.

Savings Spree

When it comes to teaching your child discipline in the use of financial resources, Savings Spree is among the top apps that would be tough to beat. Through Savings Spree, your child will learn about earning and saving money, creating a budget and other lessons through a very interesting rewards/ punishment system. It’s a game, but it’s very educational. It’s like homeschooling your kids about money.

MoneyTrail

MoneyTrail is an Android app for the entire family. It’s simple enough for kids to use and enjoy, and handy enough for even adults to appreciate. What’s interesting about MoneyTrail is that it can be used to track all financial transactions between parent and child. Managing their cash, IOUs, cards, and allowance through this system gives it a more formal, black and white feel of responsible finance.

Kid Bank

Kid Bank allows you to teach your kids about money by having them handle it themselves. This app allows the child to track all the expenses made, how much allowance is provided at a given time, and even helps with the budgeting of that allowance. It’s very basic, and it’s also very effective.

Your Money

Your Money allowance tracker is also a basic expenditure tracking app that kids can use. While this is probably more suited for kids that are a little older (and have more of an understanding of money and no longer require a reward or punishment system for their games), the easy navigation of this app makes it very usable and helpful for children and teens.

Some of these apps are free, and some are paid, but keep in mind that being able to teach your child the importance of proper personal finance management is definitely worth whatever small amount the average paid app usually goes for. While your child may start off using games to learn about money, it would not be surprising for your kid to develop the initiative to handle money the right, mature way.

Be sure to look into these apps. If your child is the kind that could not go anywhere or do anything without consulting a Smartphone, then you might as well use that to achieve something more constructive.


Author's box
Ian G. Elbanbuena is a professional finance blogger and infopreneur who writes on various topics mainly finance, retirement, business, insurance and loans. At present he works on behalf of Compare Hero, the country's. This portal helps individuals in saving money by comparing credit card rates in Malaysia.