I have always enjoyed working with money. I love balancing my checkbook, paying bills, and just counting it. I’m crazy, I know. Well, I have noticed a need at our house. ONE place for the kids to put all of their money. Lately I have found money in the wash, on the floor, in the beds, or in one of their several wallets or purses (i.e. – all over!) So, we made some money jars to help the kids learn how to take better care of their money. Here’s how we made them:
*Be sure to find some jars first. I found my cute little jars at Ikea. ($2.99 each) Then, you can make a crate for them that they fit in.
- I bought a 1/4 inch thick board that is 4 inches wide (really 3.5 inches) and 4 feet long (long enough to make 3 of them). Also a 3/8 in square stick, and 2 paint stirring sticks I had laying around.
- Cut your bottom board 12 1/4 inches long. Cut your paint sticks for the sides (4 1/8 inches) and the front and back (12 3/4 inches). Cut the square stick into 4 – 2 inch lengths.
- Break out the hot glue gun. Glue your four square stick to the corner edges of your bottom board.
- Glue your sides on next, then the front and back. (If you look closely, I didn’t think about the order before I started glueing. So, my picture shows it slightly different.)
*Your measurements might be slightly different if you have different sizes of wood or jars.
Now you are ready to paint. (Enter painters – the kiddos)
Using my Silhouette machine, I then cut their names and labels for each jar.
We love how they turned out, but the best part was teaching the kids about what went in each jar. We have taught our kids to put 10% in tithing (you could also label this jar “giving” if you prefer), 40% in saving (long term), 50% spending. We also made a document that is folded and placed behind the jars to help each child keep track of their earned money.
