State Treasurer John Perdue unveiled his office’s Financial Education Center Friday, as a group of Kanawha City Elementary students enjoyed the new attraction.

The Treasurer cut a ribbon to open the center, which features a host of activities to teach children from kindergarten through fifth grade the basics of money management. The center is located in room EB-56 of the State Capitol’s East Wing basement.

 The opening of this new center rounds out a long schedule of activities around the state celebrating 2016 Money Smart Week West Virginia.

“I think these students today were both informed and entertained by this new center,” the Treasurer said. “I liked seeing the eagerness with which they approached everything. I always say nothing opens the doors of opportunity like education. The same goes for financial education. Our kids need to know the basics there too.”

The Center’s activities include:

• Treasurer’s Vault – An interactive display featuring facts about the Treasurer’s Office and the Spend, Save, Share activity. In that activity, students take common items and sort them into the appropriate category as something they would spend money on immediately, save money for to buy later or share with someone else.
• Picture yourself on a $100 bill – For this activity, students stand in front of a green screen, one at a time, to have their picture taken. A photo will then be printed on a novelty $100 bill for them to take home.
• Hold $1 Million! – Students have the chance to hold $1 million in real money from the Federal Reserve. The money has been taken out of circulation and shredded by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing to be replace with new bills.
• Math Skill Activity— Students brushed up on basic math skills with this mix and match floor puzzle. 

There is also a take-home Spend, Save, Share sticker activity which includes instructions to create your own banks.

 

The Treasurer’s Vault was originally constructed to be included as a local element of the “Moneyville” exhibit, which was a 2014 attraction at the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia in Beckley. Over the past year the Vault was moved to the Capitol, repaired and refurbished. Funding for The Vault and other Center activities comes from the West Virginia Financial Education Foundation.