Resource
Wallet Wellness
Grade(s)
7,
8
Division(s)
Intermediate
Connected Activities
- Costly Habits
- Decisions!
- Digital Marketing Strategies – What You Should Know!
- To Save or Spend?
- Would You Rather: Rewards and Incentives
What Is It All About?
Students learn about digital spending habits. This includes impulse control (quick decisions reflecting real digital spending), budget awareness (tracking remaining money), and opportunity cost (weighing immediate gratification vs. savings).
Why Do It?
Students' spending habits can affect their financial stability, health, and overall well-being. With the financial sector increasingly shifting online, educating students about impulse control, budgeting, and opportunity costs in the digital space is crucial to empower them to make informed choices that protect their finances, health, and well-being.
What Do We Need?
- Decks of regular playing cards (1 deck per group of students)
- Paper and pencil for scoring
How Do We Do It?
- Divide students into groups (5–6 students) and provide each student with an imaginary budget of $100.
- Provide each group with a deck of cards. Remove all face cards (jack, queen, king, joker) and use only numbered cards and aces. The number on each card will represent a dollar value (e.g., 2 = $2, 3 = $3 ... up to $10).
- Ace cards will represent an unforeseen bill or tax leading to a loss of -$11.
- Have students shuffle the deck and place it face down on the playing surface.
- Use the following game instructions to play 10 rounds:
- Draw Phase: Students take turns drawing a card.
- Decision Phase: The number on the card represents a digital purchase opportunity (e.g., streaming service, app, online game), and students can either “Buy” or “Skip”.
- Buy or Skip: Each student only has five skip cards in the game. Students must decide whether to buy it (subtract from budget) or skip (add part of the value).
- Consequence Phase:
- If you Buy: You subtract the amount of equal value to the card.
- If you Skip: Draw a new card. Add half the value of the new card that was drawn as "savings interest" to your budget.
- If you draw an Ace, you are unable to skip. You are taxed $11 and must subtract this amount from your budget.
- Each player records their new budget based on their decision for the round.
- After 10 rounds, the student with the most money left over in the group wins. This teaches the balance between enjoying purchases and maintaining financial health!
- Strategy: Students make decisions to Buy or Skip not knowing what card they may draw their next turn. Explain to students that since they only have five Skips, they need to assess each turn if they would like to Buy or Skip, not knowing if higher Buy cards may be drawn later.
- Have students discuss with a partner, in a small group, or answer in a personal journal, the following questions:
- What did you learn about your own digital spending habits and priorities? How might this understanding help you make more informed choices in the future?
- What strategy did you use to determine when you would Buy or Skip? How do you think this impacted your money total at the end of the game?
Teachers Notes
- Connect to the Financial Literacy expectations (Grades 7–8 Mathematics) by emphasizing budgeting and understanding value for money.
- Connect to the Health and Physical Education expectations (Strand A: Social-Emotional Learning Skills; Strand C: Healthy Living) by linking decision-making and consumer awareness to emotional well-being and responsible choices.
- Assessment Opportunity: Evaluate students’ understanding of how spending habits can impact their financial stability, health, and overall wellbeing, and their ability to make informed decisions related to spending and saving.
