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Middle schoolers may not be ready for a full-time job or paying income taxes, but it’s never too early to review important personal finance concepts. A few well-placed lessons focused on financial literacy for middle school can get students familiar with budgeting, income, taxes, and credit, preparing them to make informed and balanced financial decisions when they do enter the economy.

Find inspiration for an upcoming financial literacy unit with a selection of middle school lessons and activities on personal finance. These resources are so informative that even parents may learn some key facts by reviewing their kids’ homework assignments!

How to Teach Financial Literacy in Middle School

Middle school financial literacy lessons build on topics taught in financial literacy for elementary kids. They introduce more complex economic concepts to students, deepening a foundational knowledge of currency into more sophisticated personal finance principles.

Important financial literacy topics for middle school include:

• Budgeting
• Saving and spending
• Income and expenses
• Needs and wants
• Salary potential and expectations
• Student loans and taking on debt
• Compound interest
• Borrowing and lending
• Credit and credit cards
• Financial security
• Potential financial risks and pitfalls

Middle schoolers also need practical ways to apply and understand these topics. By the time they’re old enough to make investments and manage their finances, they’ll have an understanding of the basics.

Budgeting and Saving Activities for Middle School

Build on lessons about financial literacy for kids with activities centered on budgeting and saving. Middle schoolers can apply the concepts of saving vs. spending to practice budgets, as well as use CCSS math skills to calculate the ways different items hit their budget.

• Practice making a budget: Work with students to make a list of common items to budget for, either in their current lives or a fictional adult life, and have them work with partners to budget based on assigned income levels.
• Have teams “save” the most: Give teams $500 in fictional money, then let them work out a budget where they save the most money in the class.
• Set up a practice grocery store: Send students on a shopping spree in the classroom where they must buy necessary items without going over their budget.
• Calculate savings account values: How can your savings make you money? Have students research and calculate optimal savings account values and interest levels before deciding which is the most advantageous.

Practice paying bills and making a budget

Paying bills may not be the most glamorous (or fun) part of being a grown-up, but not paying bills results in a much less desirable situation. Teach students the responsibilities of earning and budgeting money with resources focused on financial literacy for middle school.

Real-World Budgeting & Finance: A Personal Financial Literacy Project
By Courtney Schermerhorn – Mommy is a Teacher
Subject: Math

Enhance a financial literacy unit with a resource that includes a 13-step personal finance project. With 14 posters and instructional videos on finding a job, getting insurance, budgeting for bills, and more, the resource is an engaging and accessible way to introduce financial basics to young learners.

Planning a Dream Vacation – A Financial Literacy Activity (Print + Digital)
By STEAM Vault
Subjects: Math

How do adults plan a vacation? Show students that budgeting can lead to fun things in the future, like a dream vacation, with a math resource that includes budgeting planning sheets, presentation instructions, and activities on proportional relationships and currency exchange rates.

Intriguing Activities About Income and Expenses

Middle schoolers are old enough to make the connection between jobs and money — and if they haven’t done it yet, now’s the time! Demonstrate the relationship between income and expenses with activities that students can do on their own, with a partner, or in a larger group.

• Research different career incomes: Have students conduct research on both entry-level jobs and lifetime careers, including the factors that can impact income levels (including education, experience, locations, etc.).
• Review needs vs. wants: What expenses are necessary, and what expenses are expendable? Work with students to make a list of needs (utilities, food, housing) and wants (entertainment, travel, accessories).
• Plan a class event: Given a certain budget for a class event, have students manage the expenses of putting it on without running out of money.
• Assign paid class jobs: Helpful as either a short- or long-term project, paying class jobs with fake money can show students how quickly income can impact their lives.

Show students how to balance and track expenses

Even though personal finance has changed a lot in the last few decades (remember paying with a check?), the concepts and skills behind it haven’t. Demonstrate the importance of tracking and classifying expenses with resources designed to reinforce the fundamentals and challenge student thinking. 

Balancing a Check Register Interactive Notebook
By Edison Education
Subject: Math

While your 21st-century students may not be writing many checks, they should still know how to balance a check register to keep track of their funds. This financial literacy resource includes a foldable note project, as well as a warm-up and exit slip, that take students through the process of aligning expenses and balancing the register.

Financial Literacy – Types of Expenses – Complete Lesson Bundle – Middle or High
By The Confidence Classroom by Ashlyn C

This thorough financial literacy resource includes everything you need to teach students about the different types of expenses on a balance sheet. They compare wants and needs and prioritize expenses with 10 bell ringers, lesson slides, a scenario activity, a writing extension activity, and a final assessment.

Interesting Ideas for Credit and Debt Literacy

When planning a unit on financial literacy for middle school, it’s easy to overlook the somewhat daunting concepts of credit and debt. After all, middle schoolers aren’t applying for credit cards or loans anytime soon. But a greater understanding of how credit and debt work can only enhance their financial literacy — and possibly keep them out of financial trouble in the future.

• Analyze sample credit card statements: Using example credit card statements with expenses and interest levels, students work together to come to a conclusion about the credit card holder’s spending habits.
• Compare cash vs. credit: Practice interest rates and percentages with a lesson on buying an item with cash versus paying for it on a credit card.
• Practice getting out of debt: Assign groups a set amount of debt, including secured debt and revolving debt, and have them calculate how long it would take them to pay it off.
• Research student loans: Have students compare different types of student loans (federal, private, family) and the ROI for different degrees and professions.

Give students some credit with credit card games and activities

You don’t need to hand middle schoolers a credit card to teach them about credit! Take them through the basics with middle school financial literacy activities and games designed to teach students about the benefits and drawbacks of credit and debt.

Financial Literacy Game Credit Cards Activity Life Skills FCS, Personal Finance
By Twins and Teaching Culinary Arts and FACS
Subject: Economics, Family Consumer Sciences

Take the mystery out of credit cards and debt with an entertaining financial literacy game. This printable board game, complete with game questions and cards and a Google slideshow to review answers, equips students with the knowledge they need.

Thought-Provoking Lessons on Taxes

Middle schoolers may claim that they don’t need to know about taxes yet, but if they’ve ever purchased an item that had sales tax, it’s time to learn about it! Lead up to lessons on financial literacy for high school students with activities that introduce the fundamentals of paying taxes.

• Research tax rates in different countries: Have groups look up and calculate the differences between tax rates in countries around the world, as well as what the taxes pay for.
• Keep track of resources provided by taxes: Make a list of the resources students use that are paid for by taxes, including public schools, roads, parks, or other government programs.
• Have board races for sales tax: Send two students up to the board and call out item amounts for them to calculate your state’s sales tax (such as 8% of a $200 shopping bill).
• Practice filling out income taxes: Print out sample income tax forms and assign income levels to different groups, as well as deductions and other theoretical circumstances.

Review the way taxes work in personal finance

Taxes aren’t just an April thing: They affect everyone all year round. Demonstrate tax facts and fundamentals with financial literacy resources for middle school that review the way taxes work in students’ everyday lives.

Personal Financial Literacy TEKS Unit | Budgeting, Tax, and Interest Notes
By Maneuvering the Middle
Subject: Math

This financial literacy resource includes a complete unit on a variety of concepts, including personal budgets, sales and income tax, monetary incentives, and more. Skill-based problems and real-world questions encourage students to practice these math-based skills, and several levels of assessments make it easy for you to check how well students are understanding each concept.

Discounts and Sales Tax Financial Literacy Task Cards: Digital and Print
By Couple of Teachers
Subject: Math

How do tax and compound interest affect discounts and sales? Try out an activity with 16 task cards based on tax-related word problems and comparisons, perfect as either a classwork or homework assignment in a unit on personal finance and financial literacy.

More Ways to Teach Financial Literacy

How can you teach financial literacy for middle school when your curriculum is already full? Find ways to fit personal finance into your lesson planner with a few planning tips and tricks.

• Listen to teen-focused financial literacy podcasts, such as NPR’s Teen Money Matters or the Money Moves Podcast by Gen-Z for Financial Literacy.
• Play personal finance games in class, or assign them for students to play at home with their families.
• The U.S. FDIC offers a free curriculum on financial literacy for middle schoolers with 12 standards-aligned lessons that you can use to build your own curriculum. 
• Add financial word problems to your math assessments or homework assignments.
• Focus on math-related financial literacy lessons on National STEM Day (November 8th).
• Add personal finance concepts to your math and social studies curricula during Financial Literacy Month this April.
• Have language arts students write a story about financial situations after conducting research on personal finance.
• Take a field trip to a bank for students to learn from real-life financial experts and professionals.
• Show videos about important personal finance topics. Making Cents is a financial literacy video series from PBS Learning Media that covers a wide range of finance topics, while Next Gen Personal Finance has a number of videos that discuss credit, making investments, consumer skills, and more. 

Introduce financial literacy before high school

Even though pre-teens aren’t all earning an income yet, it’s the perfect time to teach financial literacy resources for middle school. These lessons are applicable to their upcoming high school and adult lives, and they’re important concepts to clear up long before students’ first paycheck hits their account. Find more middle school financial literacy resources to practice concepts that apply to their understanding of math, economics, and personal choices.