Captain Cash is an interactive educational program designed to teach basic financial management skills to third grade students. This dynamic curriculum was designed to address the following issues:
- Money behaviors observed and learned in childhood impact adult behaviors.
- Money management messages that children process in the home, the community, on television, and via other media shape their values, attitudes and future money habits.
- Individuals and families are not able to respond to economic disruptions because they have not learned critical money management concepts and skills.
To address these issues, “Captain Cash” includes four classroom enrichment sessions of approximately 30-45 minutes each that focus on earning, saving, spending, and borrowing money. Each session introduces vocabulary words and one or more basic economic concepts. Every lesson also includes a game or activity and a take-home handout. All lessons meet Indiana Academic Standards for math and social studies. Along with learning basic financial concepts, students learn and practice important life skills such as communication, decision-making, problem-solving, managing resources, planning, and organizing to foster self-sufficiency.
