Teaching kids about investing early is crucial for setting them up for financial success in the future. However, investing can often seem boring or difficult to grasp for young minds. To make the concept more engaging, we can gamify it with one of my students' favorite games: basketball! By turning investing into a game, kids can learn essential principles like risk management, long-term growth, and the importance of strategic planning, all while having fun.

The game introduces players to different time horizons, showing how short-term versus long-term goals can influence their investment choices. The strategies change based on the amount of time they have to reach a goal—the more time they have, the more it pays to invest, while investing heavily into a short time frame may not pay off.

A key inspiration for this game comes from the classic "Stag Hunt," a well-known game theory scenario where individuals must decide between cooperating for a larger reward or acting alone for a smaller, safer one. In our investing game, this principle is applied by allowing players to choose between making baskets for points or recruiting more players. Focusing on the score is more important if one has a short period of time. However, the longer the game is, the more one can invest, enabling massive point scoring! By navigating these decisions, players gain a hands-on understanding of how collaboration and strategy influence both short- and long-term financial outcomes.

Through this game, kids learn about investing and develop critical thinking skills that will serve them well in their financial future. This game is easy enough for young kids to play since there is no defense, but realizing the concepts may not take hold until the students are older.

Materials:

• A large play area

• Four basketball hoops, nets, or four large containers

• At least one ball per person suited to the chosen activity

• Two rubber disc dots or cones if you are outside

  o Highly recommended: Scoreboard
  § Otherwise, having to counters is an option

• Minimum Number of Students Needed: You could play this game with as few as six people. However, this game can accommodate many more. The fewer players you have, the more rest time you may need between rounds so the students can catch their breath.

• Prior Knowledge: Students could be learning about (compounding) interest or other investment concepts, especially from math class. However, there is no bad time to learn about investing.