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It's never too early to learn the value of a dollar. Why not give your kids a head start and teach them the basics about money and saving now?One easy way to teach kids about money is to give them some of their own. Start giving your child an allowance when he or she starts kindergarten. It doesn't have to be a lot - $1 or $2 a week is enough to teach them to save. Increase the amount by $1 each year.Give the allowance consistently so your child learns to manage money on a schedule, and use it to teach your child to save his or her money. Even with $1, you can show your child the importance of short-term and long-term savings. Have your child save half in a long-term fund (such as his or her contribution to an education fund) and half toward short term goals of his or her choosing (saving for a special treat or activity). You could also use this activity to encourage giving, and split the amount into thirds (long term, short term and donations to a worthy cause).Using a see-through jar or bank allows young kids to visually see how money accumulates as they save (but don't use a jar that's too large or they won't notice results). For older kids, help them set up a simple savings account a local bank and let them keep track of deposits and withdrawals.With both younger and older kids, giving them a little bit of seed money to begin with - even just a few dollars - can get them excited to start a new savings project.As your child saves on his or her own, consider rewarding his or her efforts by matching contributions toward a savings goal - such as putting in $50 toward a $100 bike. Or, teach your child about interest by paying a small amount of interest on savings.Encourage older kids to earn extra money by taking on extra chores or starting a small business such as a cutting grass or babysitting.When a child has saved enough to make a desired purchase, help him or her comparison shop by checking websites for prices and sales, or by comparing prices of similar brands or products. This encourages not only saving, but smart shopping too.! cincysavers.com ExtraThe gift of stock
Teach your child about investing by buying him or her a single or small number of shares of stock as a holiday or birthday gift. Choose a company your child is familiar with (Coke, Disney, Mattel, Kroger, etc.) and help monitor the stock's progress. You may also be interested in:Sunday Classics: Cellfire SavingsSunday Classics: Coupon Ethics 

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