CHEDDARBOWL
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Cheddarbowl is an amazingly captivating new game focused on financial literacy for all ages.
Click the image above to play!!
How to Interpret the Graphs
Each game is rated on a scale from 0-30 for educational and game qualities.
0 means the quality is missing
10 Means the quality is weak
20 Means the quality is adequate
30 Means the quality is strong
Balancing Your Checkbook
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Balancing Your Checkbook
By: Northwestern Mutual
Date: 2010
Audience: Teenagers
Focus: Banking
Play Balancing Your Checkbook Here
An interactive classroom activity/exercise designed to build a lost skill “Manually Balancing your actual Checkbook Ledger”. This is a great tool for math class particularly if done without the use of a calculator. The activity is also perfect for the development of the needed skill of data verification in a digital world. The exercise, while not really a game, can be done quickly; in 10 minutes. One bonus of the site is the section titled ‘Ideas for Teachers”. This section is packed with content about money management.
Awesome Island
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Awesome Island
By: Brian Page
Date: 2010
Audience: Grades 6 - adult
Focus: Personal finance
Play Awesome Island Here
Unlike many of the games we have reviewed, Awesome Island is not an on-line game that you can immediately access for quick use. This game requires ordering and a wiliness to invest in the product. Put in a different way.. It is not free!! The complete packet with all the tools curtly retails at $100.00. One special feature found for free on the site is an electronic “Flash Card” system of terms that are key knowledge builders in Money Management.
The game categorized as an adventure with competition has a play time of approximately 2 hours and requires significant instructor preparation and involvement. While that is a little scary, the game product is designed to introduce all of The Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy (www.jumpstart.org) standards (Career and Income/Investing/Debt and Credit/Insurance/Philanthropy).
Arrows Of Knowledge
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Arrows of Knowledge
By: US Mint H.I.P Pocket Change http://www.usmint.gov/kids/
Date: 1999-2010
Audience: young children
Focus: Coin values
Seven (7) Genres of games designed for short burst of activity. These are well suited for classroom activity. Many come with Printable games sheets that were easily understood and well organized. There are history facts everywhere, which make this series of games ideal for additional discussion related to a history curriculum. WARNING, for those educators with poor hand eye coordination be prepared to be embarrassed. Your classes will have loads of fun watching you as you attempt to shoot arrows or hit the bull’s eye. There is certainly enough content here to make for several exercises in coin and American History.
Adventure Game: The Treasure Hunt
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Adventure game: The Treasure Hunt
By: Ekomini Inc.
Date: 2009
Audience: Grade 1 - 6
Focus: language, mathematics, deductive skills
Be prepared to encounter some level of advertising before the game loads. It is usually short. This is truly an adventure game designed for motor skill development and timed competition. This would fall into the category of a casual game that you could use at break time. There is limited engagement in mathematics through coin counting.
AD decoder
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Ad Decoder
By: Center for Disease Control
Date: 2008
Audience: K-12
Focus: Decipher ads to make good decisions
The Center for Disease Control has designed a colorful interactive life lessons system designed to provide key information in many of the areas young adults encounter (6 Key areas). Within the “Your Life Category” you will find the game Ad Decoder. Ad Decoders is better described as an interactive instruction Vs. Game tool. The content very clearly helps individuals recognize the behavior messaging presented in advertising. The presentation presents ample opportunity for “Life Event” discussion.
While the focus of our critique is Games, please take a moment to review the entire site. There are several exercises worth a second look; particularly the Food and Nutrition Section.
Bite Club
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Bite Club
By: Doorways to Dream Fund
Date: 2011
Audience: Teenagers
Focus: Debt Management
Bite Club is a moderately easy game to play that would fit into a short classroom “purposeful” break time activity. The content is based on three key areas:
A. Pay off debt as quickly as possible
B. Keep cash working
C. Save Big piles of cash for retirement.
The opening trailer is entertaining and would appeal to Tweens. With its vampire theme it captures today’s tween audience’s fascination with the bloody side of society. Players are challenged with creating cash by satisfying the wishes of the vampire patrons of The Bite Club by matching the patron’s commands with the available position choices in the “club”: seating, bar, conversation pit and dance floor. This is initially fun but after a while become very repetitive. The game emphasize well the need to use cash for debt reduction quickly and smartly based on rates of interest being paid to service the debt. That’s a great thing to understand.
The Banking Kids Series
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The Banking Kids Series
By: DGM Graphics, Inc.
Date: 2003
Audience: Elementary Grades
Focus: Budget Management
Play The Banking Kids Series Here
The series falls into the category of Interactive Forms. There are several puzzles /interactive machine/and banking forms used to make a child familiar with the banking process.
• Crossword
• Budget
• Jigsaw
• Puzzle
Actually done quite well. Many individuals have never had the physical experience of actually filling out forms needed to make deposits, withdraw cash or transact basic banking business; great idea. We found the realism of actually “ picking up cash and depositing it into the bank and inserting you ATM card into the ATM machine very life like and intriguing. The series is divided for skill levels (Preschool, Elementary and Teens) and builds skills in using bank transaction forms and instruments. Minimally using this series should build familiarity with “basic” banking transaction and processes.
Break the Bank
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Break the Bank
By: U.S. Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change
Date: 1999-2010
Audience: Young Children
Focus: Coin Values
Hip Pocket Change presents another interesting activity lesson based on the History of Coins. This activity should take less than 10 minutes to play . A fun backdrop to any history class for younger students 8-12 year olds. The questions are done well and the ending physical challenge of breaking the bank should bring a smile to your class.
Charge!
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Charge!
By: Sense and Dollars
Date: 2002
Audience: Teenagers
Focus: Budget Management
This is really a very straightforward class activity calculator. The messages are clear:
1. Understand the impact of minimum or limited payments on credit cards, and
2. Understand the impact of interest payments on the Final Cost of the things we purchase.
Once that message is delivered, the activity is completed.
Celebrity Calamity
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Celebrity Calamity
By: Doorways to Dream Fund
Date: 2011
Audience: Teenagers
Focus: Debt Management
Initially we thought that this would be a little “ Hokey” but the more we played, and we played for a while the joy in the game came through. Playing the game requires a young agile mind with quick reflexes. Keeping the celebrity satisfied required the ability to collect enough falling dollars and items to fill up the celebrity’s wish list. Here’ s the trick and awareness that surfaces over time. To keep the celebrity happy requires balance. Spend only on the things requested, not on everything available. Pay debts quickly and limit the level of debt when you can. The Game is well done.
Bricks and Bucks
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Bricks & Bucks
By: University of California Cooperative Extension
Date: 2008
Audience: Teenagers
Focus: Money Management
This text based game and its family of games recognize that the audience may be “bi lingual”. Big congratulations to the developer on its inclusiveness. This Particular game Bricks and Bucks allows for one player challenge though “Beating the Clock” Or Multi Player Challenge “Competition- Top Score”. The format is set up like Jeopardy in format and appearance, thus it should be very comfortable and familiar to players and educators/facilitators. If the single player is not able to complete all the questions in the specified time, they can replay the game. In replaying the game new questions are presented in the categories. Fantastic... this new challenge increases the players desire to master the game. We reviewed in detail the Bricks and Bucks but the series presented by the developer (http://moneytalks4teens.ucdavis.edu/index.cfm) has a full menu of short classroom activity selections that may be of interest to you. One in particular that was interesting was “Values Games”.
Cash Puzzler
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Cash Puzzler
By: Visa Inc. / PracticalMoneySkills.com
Date: 2000-2011
Audience: Young Children Through Retired Elderly
Focus: Varies Between Games (Overall Financial Literacy)
Cash Puzzler is a two- to-five minute activity. The total game/activity consists of solving he puzzle by recreating the “paper currency." Nothing more. There are no history facts or additional information. Useful for a times drill ages (6-8).
Peter Pig's Money Counter
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Peter Pig's Money Counter
By: Visa Inc. / PracticalMoneySkills.com
Date: 2000-2011
Audience: Young children through retired elderly
Focus: Varies between games(overall financial literacy)
Play Peter Pig's Money Counter Here
This Classroom activity structured to provide “Practical Money Skills”. The game is divided into easy, medium and hard skills focused on:
• Sorting coins for recognition
• Counting coins for recognition and developing math skills
• Comparing amounts to develop problem solving skills, coin recognition and math ability.
For the intended purpose (coin recognition) the exercises are done well. The Coin Fun Facts are ideal for a dovetail into a history lesson. Suited for ages (8-12).
US Mint H.I.P Pocket Change Games
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US Mint H.I.P Pocket Change Games
By: US Mint H.I.P Pocket Change
Date: 1999-2010
Audience: Young Children
Focus: Coin Values
Play US Mint H.I.P Pocket Change Games Here
The entire U. S. Mint H.I.P Pocket Change game series gets an honorable mention from us. You could spend an entire year working through the classroom activities present here. Most activities are designed for ages (8-12) but with a little effort and creativity you could expand the age range to “teens” easily. Everything you need to thoroughly discuss the history of coins, the “physical” uses of money, and the process of the creation of coins is here. What really surprised us was how much we really did not know about the “process” of the creation of coins and how integrated that process is to our history and culture. We encourage every teacher to take a serious look at this site. It is well worth your time.
