Crayons & Capital: Teaching kids financial literacy through art

I’ve been teaching middle school for 3 years and college for 6. While these two levels can be quite different, commonalities are present. Whether a student is in junior high or a junior in higher ed, one often asks a similar question: “Why aren’t we taught about money in school?”. Regardless of program or area of study, I feel we should all learn about money throughout our time in the education system. 

After fielding this question so many times, I decided to do something about it. I started a youth financial literacy services company called Investment Scholars. Serving grades K-8, students earn income as they learn about money. Stocks are a main pillar of the programs, seeing as publicly traded companies are one of the more accessible investing avenues for youth. Real estate, entrepreneurship, credit, and debt are among other covered topics. 

Finding a Key to Engagement

The groups of students involved with Investment Scholars have been achieving amazing results each semester since the organization’s inception late 2023. From attaining investment returns that beat the market to developing detailed plans to develop real estate portfolios, K-8 scholars have demonstrated insight and excellence. Yet, I’ve naturally identified growth areas, one of them being engagement.

While working with a cohort of 2nd through 5th graders this spring, we sat down and spent time drawing our “First Investment Property”. Some students used blank or lined paper, while others colored a duplex template. It was a glorious activity – perhaps the most highly attended to – rivaled only by an activity in which students pitched their business ideas to one another a la Shark Tank. On other occasions, especially in afternoons with 8th graders following lunch period, students have not been as engaged and have hit the snooze button. Comparing general engagement issues with the highly interactive drawing project, a personal light bulb turned on. 

Solution

Interestingly, the school I work at does not have art classes for middle schoolers. Art is vital, just as money education is. Students should absolutely have both subjects as stand alone classes, in my humble opinion. Although I digress, this does help bring me back to the solution to my class engagement issue: Art. Drawing brought the topic of real estate to life for our group. 

Art activates the mind. It helps us to visualize, to plan, to dream, and to execute. It can encourage students to learn in their own way and to exercise autonomy or individuality. Drawing can help create or support visual math learners, and it certainly can help us to engage in conversations about money. As I tell students, “Math is sometimes money…money is always math”. Money is very much art as well. Think of the flow of stock charts and the design that goes into marketing and products. Aesthetics is involved in it all. 

Art & Financial Literacy

So how can we, as teachers or caregivers, incorporate art into financial literacy? There are so many creative ways to incorporate artistic elements into lessons on money. Recently, my son drew various young people as their own avatar or character. These young people are now a part of printable budget templates for kids, including students who participate in the afterschool investment clubs. This is one example of how to leverage art and make financial literacy fun and relatable. 

What would drive a lesson on money management home for young people? Would a powerpoint alone suffice, or might a personalizable pop-up “piggy bank” spruce things up? One of my own core memories surrounding financial literacy in school (albeit one of the only) is when we got to make our own sustainable city out of cardboard items in 3rd grade. The city was scaled-down so that a milk carton was able to represent an office building or a grocery store. 

Our children are headed to do some amazing things in life. In our classrooms are future CEOs, bank founders, IT specialists, and tech giants. Let’s start by having them design their logos, write – and draw – their business proposals, and perhaps literally paint a picture of their career and life trajectories. 

Art. Financial Literacy. Combined, these two can do wonders for our children. Let’s start today.

Brendan is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, home of the 2021 NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks. He and his wife, Catreese, married in 2009 and have five children together. He has worked in social work and higher education for the bulk of his career and is currently endeavoring to implement financial literacy throughout Milwaukee’s K-8 system.