Math + Writing Activity: Keeping a Ledger

Teaching kids how to keep a ledger of their savings and spending habits is a great way to encourage writing practice, as well as mathematics.

You could even say it's an economical way to combine the two skills. (I couldn't help myself!)

Giving kids a way to practice their writing without worksheets, and with real-world application can make them forget about the tedium of learning how to form letters and numbers correctly, especially for kids who may struggle with fine motor skills.

Choosing a Ledger

Giving your kids allowance offers the perfect opportunity to practice math and writing in a ledger. Make a big deal out of taking a special trip to the office supply or stationery store and let them pick out their accounting book.

Offering them the opportunity to pick out an actually accounting ledger instead of using a plain notebook can help give them the feeling of ownership and motivate them to practice their math skills and keep up the habit in the long term.

Keeping Track

How your family controls allowance payouts will determine the exact methodology. We require our kids to put their allowance into three buckets: spend, save, and give. As a result, they record their allowance as it comes in weekly into three columns. Very young kids may also enjoy this coin sorting activity.

Then, as they spend their money, they record those expenditures in a separate column.

At the end of the month, they tally up their expenditures and savings. When they decide to give a lump sum of money away, they record that, too. A great supplement to keeping a ledger is to ask your kids to reflect on their feelings about their finances in one of these journals that encourage self-reflection with directed prompts!