The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money by Stan and Jan Berenstain can help parents talk to their kids about allocating resources, recognizing resources, and saving.

The Trouble with Money

by Katie Cullum

"When little bears spend every nickel and penny, 

The trouble with money is - they never have any!"

And so the story begins!  You can find The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money at the Pangburn Library or online at the Arkansas Digital Library Consortium. It is also available to purchase online.  

The goal of the books in this series (which includes Just Shopping with Mom and the Ox-Cart Man, along with a little more about the series in Teaching Money Lessons with Books ) is to help parents talk to their children about money.  This story focuses on three different financial concepts - recognizing resources, allocating resources, and saving.  Resources include things like skills, time, and money.  Our resource of money may be limited but we can find different ways to use what we have to get what we need.  

Synopsis:  Brother and Sister Bear spend money as soon as they get it.  Mama and Papa Bear want the cubs to learn that there is more to know about money than just how to spend it.  

Download this Parent Guide to get discussion questions, activities to reinforce, and more information on the financial concepts.  

If you don't have the book, you can watch the video below WITH your kids!  Then discuss the ideas from the Parent Guide.