It’s very critical, especially at a very young age, to expose kids to very simple financial scenarios.
Start early between ages 3 and 5, to educate your kids about saving and spending basics. Lessons don’t have to be complicated at first. Simple understanding of how much something costs and whether they have the money to pay for it, would be good enough. Later when your kids are getting older, you can start to incorporate other pieces of information, such as long-term planning and saving (i.e., saving money for something bigger that they can’t buy with a week or month’s allowance).
The piggy bank concept is still a great way for young kids to learn about saving. You can get a jar and create your own label so kids can put in money for spending, saving and sharing.
Most importantly don’t forget to be a role model! Children learn from what they observe.