Instructify

BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

Understanding how to budget your resources and not spend more that you take in can help children create a foundation for success later in life. Unfortunately, the subject often seems boring and intangible for students — graphs of production curves, widgets, butter versus guns, the law of diminishing returns…I remember them all from my economics class, but at the time, they seemed to have no relevance to my personal situation.

But here we have The Centsables, an interactive training tool for explaining and teaching students about economic and monetary responsibility. The premise revolves around a group of financial superheroes, The Centsables, who explain healthy economic principles in a campy comic-book format that is engaging and fun for young students. Kids will find interactive games, PDF lesson plans to teach about concepts like check book balancing, spending within one’s means, and earning interest on savings. The appearance is crisp, the voice acting well-performed, and the layout easily navigable by children without the need for much supervision.

The target students are middle school and earlier — high-school students will probably find the presentation a bit too remedial. The concepts, however, are timeless, given what has happened in our current economic situation. Due to widespread fiscal irresponsibility, The Centsables are needed now more than ever.

The Centsables

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