Money Mammals TV
Check out the videos we created for parents like you. You'll get some quick pointers on lessons you can incorporate easily around the house or on the go.
The Art of Allowance
A short, practical guide that will help you learn how to use an allowance to teach your kids to be money-smart and become money-empowered at any age.
The Money Mammals Video
The Money Mammals: Saving Money Is Fun is an award-winning 30 minute, full color video that's idea for all parents hoping to instill money smarts from a young age.
It gets young children excited about money smarts!
The Money Mammals Share
& Save & Spend Smart Books
& Save & Spend Smart Books
This award-winning picture book trilogy is a great way to introduce the core concepts of saving for a goal, distinguishing between needs and wants and making smart money choices.
Teaching Resources
We have Reading Guides that pair with our books and a comprehensive Teaching Guide that works in conjunction with our books and DVD.
The Teaching Kit
This resource includes everything you need to teach kids to share and save and spend smart too: our award-winning DVD, picture book and curriculum manual.
3 Ways
that Westerly Community Credit Union can help your kids and family get money-smart:
We want kids to enjoy the process of becoming money-smart.
The Money Mammals DVD, picture books, online games and downloadable apps will
help them get excited to begin the process. Your kids can earn badges and even go
on money-smart quests on the website Westerly Community Credit Union has created for you.
Now that your kids are excited, the process continues with you. And don’t worry! You don’t have to be Warren Buffett to raise money-smart kids. The Art of Allowance helps you teach the three core money-smart skills your children can learn:
- The difference between needs and wants
- Making smart money choices (Share, Save & Spend Smart)
- Setting goals and saving for them
Want to go even further? We have Reading Guides that pair with our books and a comprehensive Teaching Guide that works in conjunction with our books and video. There are lots of lessons included that you can do at home. We have dozens of printable activities on our site too! You could also introduce your children's teachers to these materials. Teachers are often surprised and excited to learn about these resources. And think of the benefit to your child and their friends if they decide to incorporate these lessons into the curriculum.
Tools and Tips
Three jars
You may have heard of the three-jar method, the simple system to help kids learn to make smart
money choices.
- Save: the jar for setting money aside for longer-term goals
- Share: the jar for charitable giving
- Spend Smart: The Money Mammals may not have invented the three-jar system, but we did help to improve it by adding "smart" to the spending jar. Becoming money-smart and money-comfortable is about utilizing funds and learning, through mistakes, to become a savvy spender.
Allowance
More money thoughts
- Don't be intimidated by your own lack of knowledge. In fact, sharing some of your own faults may help your kids learn more.
- Mistakes are good. Kids may sometimes make bad decisions with their money and that's ok. Small mistakes now (like buying a cheap trinket that disappoints) can help to avoid agony down the road (committing to a high-interest credit card, for example).
- There are no silly questions. Westerly Community Credit Union is here to help if you need assistance
Why Start Early?
The Problem
We live in a consumer society. Kids can't escape the messages to spend, so we need to equip them with equally entertaining and powerful messages to share, save and spend SMART. The lack of financial literacy contributed to the Great Recession. However, as the economy improves, the problem isn't going to go away.
What We're Doing About It
The terrific folks at Westerly Community Credit Union as well as other local and national organizations help us to provide resources to teachers and parents that can be used in the classroom or in the home. As the message spreads that we CAN raise a generation of money-smart kids and that it takes a VILLAGE to do so, we get closer and closer to our goal.
How We're Doing It
The Money Mammals are only a start. We know that. We also know that teachers and, most importantly, parents are a CORE part of the solution. Our partners and we continue to raise awareness about the importance of engaging families with simple solutions that can fit into their everyday lives. We know we can't solve the problem ourselves, but we can raise awareness about the issue and showcase ideas that we know can help families teach money smarts.
How It Helps
Kids can learn by having fun, but learning also requires some work. We know that engaging them with positive money messages can help "prime the pump" and get
them excited about something OTHER than spending money. With entertaining videos and books aimed at the younger set (Pre-K through 3rd Grade) as well
as games designed for both younger and older (ages 8 and up) kids, we connect with children and set the stage for parents and teachers to use our tools to establish
an allowance system and understand the importance of making smart money choices with real dollars.