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WealthWise Kids

Grades 3–5Ages 8–11 · Unit 2.4 · Budgeting Basics

A first budget: the 50/30/20 worksheet for grades 3–5.

Most budgeting worksheets hand a child a rule and ask them to follow it. This one hands them the rule three times, at $10, $20 and $50, and then asks the question that matters: does this actually fit your life, and what would you change? A child who can argue with the rule understands it.

Download the PDF ↓One page · with answers · 25–30 minutes

No account. No email. Nothing collected about your child.

Preview of the 50 / 30 / 20 worksheet

What is on the page

  • Three budgets to build — $10, $20 and $50
  • Needs, wants and save-and-give columns
  • A write-your-own section to adjust the percentages
  • An answer page with worked examples

What it teaches

  • Splitting a whole into parts that must add up
  • That saving is a category, not what is left over
  • Judging whether a general rule fits a particular situation

How to run it

Do the $10 budget together and let them do $20 and $50 alone. The jump in confidence between the first and the third is the point of running all three.

The other free worksheets

See all four free financial literacy worksheets, read what third grade learns about money, or start with our guide to financial literacy for kids.

Where it comes from

Unit 2.4 · Budgeting Basics of a 266-lesson curriculum.

This sheet is one activity, unchanged, from Financial Foundations™. Teachers can run a free five-week pilot with one class. Families can take the Family Edition home.

For my class ›For my family