Overview
Young learners will hear the classic “Three Little Pigs” story with a Financial Literacy twist! Adding and subtracting with Canadian money, learners will practice counting with a variety of bills and coins. Through hands-on building challenges, learners will also gain knowledge and explore the concepts of saving, spending, and investing with money.
NB Curricular Connections
English Language Arts
- Strand: Reading – Big Idea: Reading Comprehension – Skill Descriptor: Construct meaning from oral stories, read-alouds, and text.
Mathematics
- Strand: Number – Big Idea: Number sense
Explore Your World
- Strand: Well-Being – Big Idea: Emotional Health and Positive Identities – Skill Descriptors: Define and explore needs, wants, and choices.
What You’ll Need
- PowerPoint Presentation – The Three Little Financial Pigs (see attached PDF)
- A set of Canadian Money (coins and bills)
- Building Mats (1 mat per 3-4 learners, see attached PDF)
- Pig Puppets (see attached PDF)
- Colouring Materials (crayons, pencil crayons or markers)
- Scissors
- 5-6 pieces of yellow construction paper
- Tape
- Glue
- Set of toothpicks or popsicle sticks
Instructions
Discussion: Using slide 2 of the PowerPoint Presentation, discuss, “What is money?” Have learners share what they know about Canadian currency – why we use it, what different increments we use (coins and bills), and how it is made? Then, proceed to Slide 3 and 4 of the PowerPoint Presentation to review the correct responses to these questions. Next, hand out some plastic money and paper bills to each table of learners and have them examine it. Go over each piece with the PowerPoint Slide 4, so learners are familiar with amounts and names.
Money Many Ways Activity: Using Slides 5-7 of the PowerPoint presentation, say an amount [For example: “$1] and then have learners, at their table, try to make $1 as many ways as they can [20 nickels, 10 dimes, 4 quarters, 1 loonie]. Then, together share the responses. Repeat for the other amounts on the slides. Feel free to continue with other amounts, as desired.
The Three Little Financial Pigs STORY & Puppets: Prior to sharing the story together, hand out 1 Pig Puppet per learner. Have them colour their pig and let them know that they will have a part to play in the story. Each time they hear their pig’s name, they can hold up their puppet! Feel free to tell this story (following along the PPT slides 8-13):
Once upon a time, there were 3 Little Pigs and their Momma. They lived in a small mud hut in the small town of Porkville. Momma pig was a mud pie baker and worked hard to provide for her three little pigs – Spike the Spender, Sam the Saver and Ivan the Investor. They had fun together, laughed together, and enjoyed campfires together. As time passed, Momma pig’s three little pigs began to grow… and grow… and grow… until they were no longer so little. Their little mud hut became crowded and stuffy. It became time for Spike the Spender, Sam the Saver and Ivan the Investor to venture out on their own. Momma pig gave each one of her son’s $100 to build their own house and live out their piggy dreams.
The first pig, Spike the Spender went immediately to IKEA and bought $95 worth of furniture for his house. Well, he only had $5 left to build his house, so he had to go a more natural route – straw. He spent the last of his money on straw from a farmer friend and began to build his house with it.
The second pig, Sam the Saver, had never had $100 in his whole life and he wanted to save as much of it as he could. He hunted the whole town of Porkville for a bargain and chose the cheapest material he could find for $10 – sticks. He began to build his house out of sticks of all shapes and sizes.
Lastly, the third pig, Ivan the Investor went to the library. He read books, searched the internet, and asked local carpenters their advice on building a sturdy house. He decided on bricks. While researching about his house, he also heard of a Big, Bad Wolf that was not too far away from Porkville. This Big, Bad Wolf loved to eat pork and had a reputation for blowing down houses. Ivan the Investor, also thought about his two brothers and his momma and how they had such a great time together. He wanted to build a house that could fit them all, knowing that maybe they may need a place to stay in case the Big, Bad Wolf showed up. Ivan the Investor paid $50 for his bricks and began to build his house.
Building Challenge: Show slide 14 of the PowerPoint presentation. Divide learners into small groups of 3-4, depending on the puppet that they coloured: Spike the Spender (yellow paper), Sam the Saver (toothpicks), and Ivan the Investor (Lego or wooden blocks). Each small group needs 1 copy of the building mat, which corresponds with their character, as well as the matching building materials. Allow learners to build these houses on top of the building mats. One of the puppets must fit inside (other than Ivan the Investor’s, as his will need room for 5 puppets). Set a timer for 15 minutes, or a preferred time.
Huff & Puff Test: Take the time for learners to visit each other’s house creations. Then, continue with the story (Slides 15-22 of the PowerPoint Presentation):
Ivan the Investor was right! The Big, Bad Wolf was spotted in Porkville and it turns out he was very hungry – very hungry for bacon! And so, this Big, Bad Wolf found Spike the Spender’s house of straw first. He knocked on the door and shouted, “Little pig, little pig, let me in!” Spike the Spender shouted back, “No, not by the hair on my chinny, chin chin!” The Big Bad Wolf said, “Open up or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” [Have kids do the huff and puff test to the straw houses in the room as you say…] So the Big, Bad Wolf huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house down! Take a moment and see how the houses did with all the wind! Luckily, Spike the Spender snuck out the back and ran to Ivan the Investor’s house.
Next, the Big, Bad Wolf came to Sam the Saver’s stick house. He knocked on the door and shouted, “Little pig, little pig, let me in!” Sam the Saver shouted back, “No, not by the hair on my chinny, chin chin!” The Big Bad Wolf said, “Open up or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” [Have kids do the huff and puff test to the stick houses in the room as you say…] So the Big, Bad Wolf huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house down! Take a moment and see how the stick houses did with all the wind! Luckily, Sam the Saver snuck out of the back and ran to Ivan the Investor’s house.
Then, the Big, Bad Wolf came to Ivan the Investor’s brick house. He knocked on the door and shouted, “Little pig, little pig, let me in!” Ivan the Investor shouted back, “No, not by the hair on my chinny, chin chin!” The Big, Bad Wolf said, “Open up or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” Ivan the Investor replied, “Go ahead!” [Have kids do the huff and puff test to the brick houses in the room as you say…] So the Big, Bad Wolf huffed, and he puffed, and he….huffed, and he puffed and he…..huffed, and he puffed and he DIDN’T blow the house down! Take a moment and see how the brick houses did with all the wind! The Big, Bad Wolf was SO out of breath that he had to find a wolf doctor. He was not spotted in Porkville EVER again! Ivan the Investor’s plans and preparation had worked. His momma retired and came to live in his strong house, also. As for his brothers, well, they lived there, too but paid rent to Ivan each month – ($5 each) $10 a month. And they all lived happily ever after!
Money Wisdom: Using slide 23, invite learners to explore the three concepts of money: spending, saving, and investing. Discuss: Which of the pigs used their money well? Which of the pigs did not use their money well? Allow learners the opportunity to share how they use their own money. It is important for learners to understand that all three of these concepts are part of wise financial decisions – we cannot only save, only spend or only invest, but we need to do all three. Ask: What are some ways that we can practice all three? [CHALLENGE QUESTION: For Ivan, how many months did it take him to get his investment back].
Extension Ideas
- Using recyclable materials, have learners build money banks with three compartments: 1 for saving, 1 for spending, and 1 for investing.
- As a class, is there a problem in the school or in your community that needs invested in? Come together and fundraise to meet this need, by investing your profits into problem-solving actions.
- Set up a money station in your classroom for learners to keep practicing their money counting skills.
Reflection Activity
Please see the attached PDF for several choices on how you and your learners can reflect upon today’s activity.
Acknowledgements
Canva – www.canva.com, 2023.
