I lately had some thinking about approaches and methods to explain my 10 year old daughter about economic thinking.
It is important to me that it will be in an easily understandable way, and at a level where it still makes sense for children.
I think it's important to early get an understanding of spending, savings and investment. But I thought it's a challenge to interpret it in a way so it gives the most meaning to children.
-therefore hope to get some advice or recommendations for either games, books, websites or whatever
I've assumed that you mean frugal thinking not economic thinking.
Here's one thing that works not just for children but for everyone: Show it, don't tell it.
Your children are never going to emulate what you say, only what you do.
Help them through the abduction process. Allow them to observe you doing things that involve both induction and deduction. Do a mixture of activities to engage interest. Do not ignore art and dance. Engage the senses.
Whenever somebody asks me to teach their kid about markets I send them to eBay and say sell something. Like nerf gun arbitrage. You can learn all of the basics there.
Last family came back and said nobody bid on their item. I said that’s yer first lesson. Now go back, get a bid, move your item, possibly lose money for the next lesson.
Has anyone tried "Cashflow for kids" board game by Robert Kiyosaki? I think "Rich Dad" was a great basic intro to personal finance for a teenager, hence a game might be good to give kids a jump start in personal finance thinking. I am looking into it - it is pricey though if you buy new.
Obviously second what is said above on role modeling - although I think kids can learn both your behavior or the opposite of it depending on how they felt about its outcomes. E.g., neither of my parents is any good with personal finance (Mom in a classic middle class earn-to-spend way, Dad in a completely disastrous "whatever" way) - so I learned to be frugal early on because consequences of these choices were in front of my eyes. And there are a lot of examples like this - e.g., kids of workaholic parents swearing to take it easier and spend time with their kids, while kids of deadbeat parents pursuing ERE or wealth. Hence this one can be a bit tricky (as most things with kids).
There are also basic practices to expose them to financial topics early - e.g., offering them to do chores for a modest payment, and/or giving them a small allowance and potentially increasing it over time if they manage it wisely (e.g., save, buy useful things).
Get something clear like a big jug and use it as a piggy bank. Being able to see the volume and feel the weight of savings is apparently quite useful for learning because many children/people learn more from the physics of the savings vs the abstract math. It also makes the abstract math easier to connect to and internalize.
Warren buffet installed a slot machine in his house and let his kids play it. He kept the house edge for himself and let his kids know it. I thought that was a funny way to teach your kids about how stupid gambling is.
+1 to daylen. Kids usually need help when they're abducted.
It could also be a pedagogical opportunity. Like "If only we had saved more, we could pay your kidnappers and you'd be back home instead of bound and gagged in that terrible underground bunker."
I think it's become pretty obvious that from both an economic and DYI perspective, Daylen's abduction model is the best way to indoctrinate a child into the ERE lifestyle. Kid's are generally stupid so you could just call the training "camp" and they wouldn't know the difference. Once the kid becomes proficient in basic budgetary and escape tactics, you could move into Daylen's personal enlightenment stage by micro-dosing the kids with LSD in order that they develop a sense of why their life matters enough to dedicate their summer vacation to learning how to save money, gnaw through rope and navigate a complex sewerage system.
