Milk Carton Banks (Free Download)

It is almost Girl Scout Cookie Season (it starts here today!) so I decided to teach my scouts all about money. Our troop has been turned into a “flex” troop, meaning it now has Brownies in the troop as well. I personally think it is great and it gives me a way to incorporate a little more.

For Daisy Scouts – this is the Financial Literacy Leaf

For Brownies – this is the Money Manager Badge

First I went through the denominations of money and who was on each bill. I gave some fun facts about each person and asked if the girls knew any fun facts.

For example:

George Washington – 1st President, Revolutionary War General
Thomas Jefferson (I was reminded that he was on the $2 bill) – 3rd President, Writer of the Declaration of Independence
Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the United States, President during the Civil War
Alexander Hamilton – First Secretary of the Treasury, killed in a duel by Aaron Burr, never a President
Andrew Jackson – 7th President of the United States, tried to abolish the banking system in America (Still confused why he is on money)
Ulysses Grant – 18th President of the United States, General during the Civil War for the Union Army
Benjamin Franklin – Never President, Inventor

I then went through the change and explained each denomination. I also did some basic counting back change (keep in mind they are 5-9 year olds so they may not get it right away.) We used the example that if someone bought a box of cookies for $3.50 and gave you $5.00 what would you get back? I then went up to $10 and $20. All in all it was a fun exercise and the girls learned about money!

We also decorated Milk Carton Banks with markers and Crayons. They loved the fact they could color them any color they wanted and really enjoyed the activity. I think the parents were also impressed by the activity I did with the girls as well. Many of them were telling their parents as they were leaving about the money they learned about.