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Budgeting Pocket Money

CONCEPTUAL
Life SkillsMoney & Finance|Ages 7—9|ID: mt_Qzbh-_v0Gq

What a budget is; planning how to spend a fixed amount of pocket money or allowance; making trade-offs between different things you want to buy

Mastery Evidence

  • Create a simple spending plan for £10 showing what they would buy and how much is left
  • Explain what a budget is and why it helps to plan spending
  • Identify a trade-off (choosing one thing means not having enough for another)

Assessment Prompt

“If [child] had £10 to spend at a school fair, could they plan in advance what to spend it on so the money lasts?”

Prerequisites3

Show full prerequisite tree
  • Needs & Wants hard

    Must understand needs vs wants to make budget trade-offs

    • What Money Is hard

      Must understand money exists and is limited before distinguishing needs from wants

  • Buying Things soft

    Buying experience helps with realistic budgeting

    • Coins & Notes hard

      Must recognise coins/notes and their values before practising buying transactions

      • Coin Values soft

        Curriculum coins/notes recognition (Maths Y1) underpins exploratory coin knowledge

        • Reading and writing numbers to 20 hard

          Recognising coin values requires reading numerals (1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50)

          • How Many in Total? hard

            Reading/writing numerals 0–20 requires understanding that numerals represent quantities (cardinality)

            • One-to-one counting hard

              Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'

          • Writing digits 0-9 hard

            Writing numerals requires the motor skill of forming digits 0-9 (taught in English handwriting)

      • What Money Is hard

        Must understand what money is before learning to recognise specific coins and notes

    • What Money Is hard

      Must understand money as exchange medium before practising transactions

  • Saving Money hard

    Must understand saving concept before budgeting a fixed amount

    • Needs & Wants soft

      Understanding needs vs wants helps motivate saving decisions

      • What Money Is hard

        Must understand money exists and is limited before distinguishing needs from wants

    • What Money Is hard

      Must understand what money is before learning to save it

Unlocks3