At a Glance

Children typically pick up nuggets of information as they listen to grown-ups talk about topics such as buying a house or moving to a bigger place. In a child’s innocent mind, buying a bigger home may be as simple as buying a toy. The next time your child asks about buying a house, don’t brush it off. Take the opportunity to teach your child something that will go a long way in his/her adult life.

Here’s a fun activity to help your child learn about big financial commitments - such as buying a house.

Suitable for:

Your 9 - 12 year old

It will take:

30 - 45 minutes

Please prepare:

Printed “Home purchase” activity sheets, calculator, pencil & eraser


The importance of planning for necessities in life – such as a home

Variables that may affect the price of a home

The role of a bank in our lives

Smart spending to get the best value

 

To make this topic more relatable to your child, you can ask whether he/she would prefer to wake up later for school. Suggest that he/she could, if your home is closer to school.

 

Activity 1: Talk about location

Use the ”Where to stay?” activity sheet and ask your child to pick a home to buy on the map.

Download “where to stay?” activity sheet here

As he/she considers the available options, you can introduce him/her to the idea of tradeoffs.

Guide him/her to choose the best balance of location and size – and thus the best value.

 

Activity 2: Learn about loans

Once your child has decided where to buy a home, explain how he/she can buy it in 3 steps.

If you feel your child is ready, use the “How long to pay back?” activity sheet with him/her.

Ask him/her to choose a loan tenure

The more he/she pays monthly, the less he/she pays overall and the quicker the loan is repaid

Help your child understand this and the value of long-term thinking

Download “How long to pay back?” activity sheet here

 

Activity 3: Practise decorating the room

Finally, talk about home renovations. To keep things simpler, ask your child how he/she would want to decorate his/her new room.

Use the “Room decorator” activity sheet to pick room furnishings.

Help your child decide on a budget and keep to it. Ask about his/her choices on furnishing.

Download “Room decorator” activity sheet here

 

To help your child understand the value of money, you can use values that are relevant to his/her experience.

He/She would understand better what a loan repayment of $700 means if it’s converted into the number of ice creams or toys it can buy.

Related product

Do you get the best value from your home loan?

The POSB Enhanced HDB Loan saves you up to 1% interest or gives you up to $10,000 in cash rewards. Do you like ours better?

Get more details

Thank you. Your feedback will help us serve you better.

Was this information useful?

That's great to hear. Anything you'd like to add?
We're sorry to hear that. How can we do better?
Enter only letters, numbers or @!$-(),.