Learn about saving and make your own bank

Planning this activity

• It’s a good idea to try our activity Learning about delayed gratification before running this activity. This gives everyone the chance to explore how saving makes them feel.
• Think about what materials to use for everyone to make their banks out of.
• This activity gives everyone the chance to choose something to collect, a safe place to collect it, and a way to record their progress. It doesn’t have to involve collecting or saving money – but it’ll help everyone understand some of the concepts relating to saving money. 

Step 1: thinking about saving habits

1. Gather everyone together and remind everyone about Learning about delayed gratification. What did they do? How did it make people feel? 
2. Everyone should think about other things they might save. When might they collect something and keep it safe, so they can use it for something later on? This isn’t just about money in a bank account or piggy bank. People could think about cards that they save to play games with, points in video games they save to buy something bigger, or even plants they look after so they grow bigger and stronger.
3. Tell everyone that activity is all about collecting and saving something. Everyone should think about what they might like to keep and save. Try to think of things that aren’t to do with money, such as objects (such as photos, tickets), things you create (such as drawings, songs, or crafts), memories or something you can add to like a diary or a jar of good thoughts.
4. Everyone should decide on an aim for their bank. Do they want to reach a particular goal, such as a number of items, or do they want to form a habit, such as add something to the collection every day for a month?
5. Tell everyone that people can apply the same thinking to money. Sometimes they’ll save up to buy a specific thing, and sometimes they try to make saving a habit, so they have savings there for when they need them.
6. Everyone should decide on what their reward will be when they reach their aim, such as saving up to buy something or completing a collection.
7. Everyone should decide what they’ll create to help them keep track of their progress. For example, you could keep a tally of what you’re collecting or mark days off on a calendar. Feel free to get creative: people could draw leaves on a tree or colour in days in a diary.
8. Everyone should decide how they’ll keep the thing they’re saving safe. They might need to keep other people (or themselves!) from getting into it. Where will they keep it? Will they keep it closed until the end? 

Step 2: make your own bank

1. Once everyone has decided what they want to do, they should make their bank.
2. Everyone should choose an item to hold the things they’re going to save or collect. It’s up to them what they choose. People may want to think about making it secure or choosing something like a see-through jar, so they can watch their progress.
3. You could allow time for people to decorate or create their banks.
4. People should think about how long they’ll save for and how they’ll keep track of their progress. They could think about how you’ll share your progress as you’re saving as well as how you’ll celebrate your successful saving at the end.