Sesame Street and PNC Bank Team Up to Educate Kids About Saving

"Sunny day. Sweepin the clouds away. On my way to where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street."

Growing up, Sesame Street was my 'hood.  Every morning, I would sit in front of the TV with my bowl of cereal and wait for Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster to entertain me.  While I was being entertained little did I know I was also learning all sorts of lessons on life.

Every positive message and life lesson was conveyed in a fun way for a five year-old me to comprehend.  With those lessons, I took away the message to always have respect for others, which was one of the biggest things that I learned and continually use in my life (it's so important to know that what you learn at a young age, you carry on throughout your life).

Now that I am a mom, it's exciting to watch Sesame Street with my kids, when I occasionally catch it on PBS (I get to share a piece of my childhood with them--there was no Nickelodeon back then).  The closest my kids get to Sesame Street is the annoying Tickle Me Elmo doll, my best friend bought a couple years back (I've already attempted to throw him away a few dozen times and have been unsuccessful).

Now Sesame Street and PNC Bank have teamed up to teach children about spending, sharing and saving money in a fun way with the For Me, For You, For Later initiative. 

If you think about it, our children are constantly exposed to money and what we do with it.  They see us take out an assortment of bills and loose change to buy groceries, watch us slide a plastic card in a machine to take out money, and even give a dollar to the man who stands in the corner with a sign that says, "Why lie, I want beer."

Education starts with our own habits and, even when we don't think our child is paying attention, they do take notice to every little thing we do (I wrote about this in my post Teaching Kids About Saving Money with SmartyPig).  For example, my daughter wanted a doll at Target and I told her I didn't have money.  At the checkout line, I added a bag of Cracker Jack, and my daughter immediately said in a very LOUD voice, "Mommy, you can't buy that because you don't have money."  Save yourself the embarrassment and lead by example.

The "For Me, For You, For Later" initiative is a very fun and easy way to introduce your kids to financial basics that will greatly impact their financial future.  The videos featuring Elmo teach everything from trying to spend $1 to saving money.  Each video is very entertaining to watch and has a message relating to the 3 S's which are Spending, Sharing and Saving.

In addition, there are printable activities that you can do with your child that complement the videos.  You can print out play money, so that your child can pretend to buy groceries or pay for their meal at the restaurant or anything else that relates to money.  This is a great activity to do with you child before you start to give them real dollar bills.

Another activity is to cut out labels that say "spending, sharing, saving" and pasting them onto individual jars.  Before putting the money into the labeled jars, you and your child can sit down and talk about how much will go into each jar and the reason why.  By engaging them, they are learning about financial responsibility and making their own decisions.

It's never too early to talk about financial basics that can impact our kids' lives.  Education is power.  Giving our child that power, will give them an upper-hand at making smart financial decisions for their future.  One way to teach your kids and make learning fun is the Sesame Street videos and activities (I'm a prime example of learning from the show).

What are some ways you teach your child about spending, saving, or even giving money back?