Developing financial skills in early childhood through activity based practices

This study aims to emphasize the importance of starting financial skills education at an early age and to provide a basis for future research by examining the effect of activity-based practices prepared for 5-6 year old children on children's financial skills development levels. This study, which was designed based on the mixed research model, was organized in accordance with the one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research method. The study group consisted of 15 children in the 5-6 age group studying in a preschool institution in the central district of Bolu province. The financial skills test prepared by the researcher was applied to the children as a pre-test and post-test. In addition, a semi-structured interview form was used to obtain opinions from parents about the effectiveness of the application. The data obtained from the financial skills test were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. As a result of the analysis, a significant difference was found between the pretest and posttest scores of the Financial Skills Test for Preschool Children for 5-6 year old children. In other words, there is a positive effect of activity-based practices prepared for 5-6 year old children on children's financial skills levels. The data obtained from the parents also showed that the activity-based interventions contributed positively to the behavioral and attitudinal changes in children about money, production-consumption, less-more, want-need, spending, debt, money, allowance and savings (savings), which are included in financial skills. The results were discussed in the context of the relevant literature and conclusions were drawn about early financial education. KEY WORDS: Financial Skills Education in Early Childhood, Early Childhood Education, Activity-Based Practices