It should be noted that from March 20 to April 2, 2023, a large-scale information campaign dedicated to the celebration of Global Money Week is underway in Ukraine. The goal of scientific and educational events, creative contests for kindergartners, pupils of general secondary education institutions and university students, organized by the National Bank of Ukraine, is the formation of financial literacy and a frugal attitude of ordinary citizens to their own material resources. Young and adult Ukrainians can participate in a wide variety of creative contests, share life hacks on financial literacy, publish thematic photos on their personal pages in social networks, and receive valuable prizes from the organizers of intellectual and creative activities.
Pupils of the Center for Education and Care of Preschool Children “Mr.Leader”, which operates on the basis of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, actively worked on the formation of their own financial skills.
Money management is one of the basic skills that a person needs during adulthood. By raising financial literacy, you improve children’s preparation so that in adulthood they will be independent and financially successful, the authors of the Mr.Leader educational program note. Therefore, it is important to introduce the child to money, different denominations, in general, to the concept of “money” and how people earn it.
As part of the thematic lesson, the children visited one of the innovative university locations – the educational and research laboratory of the Department of Finance, Banking and Taxation “Educational Bank” and got acquainted with the activities of this institution in conditions as close as possible to real ones. The little “whyers” were greeted by the head of the "Educational Bank" Maryna Turchenko, who conducted financial literacy classes for boys and girls in an interesting, interactive and accessible format. The children learned about how the bank works, why one needs to save up and how the funds saved in the piggy bank can be useful. Together with the teachers of the Center, the kids had fun counting bills, playing thematic games, during which they improved their practical skills in handling money, learned to distinguish between the monetary units of individual countries, in particular, the Ukrainian hryvnia and the American dollar turned out to be well-recognizable, of course. Each of the children definitely wanted to try themselves as a bank employee and visitor, hold foreign bills in their hands and hear the sound of a machine that checks the authenticity of banknotes.
“Getting to a real bank, seeing with your own eyes the banknotes of different countries of the world, learning that not all money is real, the Ukrainian currency is called the hryvnia, and it is not by chance that the coins are white and yellow – a childhood dream come true! It is pleasantly impressive that the parents of the pupils of the Center for Education and Care of Preschool Children “Mr.Leader” pay a lot of attention to raising financial literacy in their own children. Boys and girls know well how to handle banknotes, they even visually recognize the denominations of some of them, telling them what to buy with them. Some dream of buying a real, not a toy, car with their parents, others – a huge house, groceries, clothes and toys.
In the process of visiting the Learning Bank, the children made a virtual trip to different countries of the world, examining the monetary units of Great Britain, Norway, and the United States of America. The children were delighted with the thematic game at the real cash register, when everyone had the opportunity to play the role of a cashier and a visitor who came to pay for utilities, exchange foreign currency or receive a salary,” – commented the teacher of the Center for Education and Care of Preschool Children “Mr.Leader”, master’s student of specialty 053 “Psychology” of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” Oleksandra Malorodna.
According to the Head of the educational and research laboratory of the Department of Finance, Banking and Taxation “Educational Bank” Maryna Turchenko, they were able to use the time spent with maximum benefit, and the smiling faces and inquisitive-serious eyes of the children made the warm informal communication even cosier. This format of educational interaction with the younger generation will definitely come in handy, and the practical orientation of such meetings with pupils of the innovative kindergarten will eventually acquire a systemic character.
The children immediately consolidated the new experience gained with a visual acquaintance with the ancient building of the National Bank of Ukraine, colouring it according to the photo. Some little artists got creative by adding more spring-like light colours to the image.
A number of interesting creative works were created on this day, and thematic drawings and appliqués traditionally decorated the walls of the innovative kindergarten. The children made a money tree, paper applications and learned how to start their own business – selling lemonade.
It should be recalled that in the period from March 20 to April 2, the National Bank of Ukraine is holding the contest “Money and well-being in my country” dedicated to the World Money Week. Juveniles (pre-schoolers and students of lower grades), juniors (schoolchildren of middle and lower grades) and seniors (student youth of Ukrainian universities) can become participants in creative and intellectual competitions, who will complete various competitive tasks. In particular, children are to prepare thematic drawings, appliqués, handicrafts that will reveal their understanding of the role of money and financial well-being. Ideas for inspiration will serve as self-made banknotes or coins, piggy banks made of recycled materials. Schoolchildren are to write a short fiction in which they will originally develop the topic “The impact of financial decisions on life”, and students are to propose and justify ideas on how to increase the level of financial awareness among young people in the format of a short presentation.
To participate in competitive trials, you need to complete three simple steps:
- choose the category of this competition for your age group;
- prepare work for the competition in accordance with the requirements of the competition;
- by March 31, send to e-mail: talan@bank.gov.ua information about the competitive work and a link to view it.
At the end of the competition, 15 winners will be determined, the list of whom will be published on the landing page of the competition as well as on the website, official pages of the project of the National Bank of Ukraine – Financial Knowledge Centre “Talan” in social networks.
According to the jury’s decision, five winners of each category will receive certificates in the amount of 7000 hryvnias for books and games on financial literacy and entrepreneurship as well as the opportunity to go on an excursion to the Museum of Money at the National Bank of Ukraine.
It should be recalled that earlier the founder of the brand Mr. Leader visited the Center for Education and Care of Preschool Children of Poltava Polytechnic, an animated fairy-tale performance was arranged for the pupils, the children passed tests and received the “Leader’s ABCs”.
Recently, as part of World Money Week, future financiers discussed modern technologies for managing personal savings.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
