Charity Game

What you’ll need 🪙

• Paper and pencil (or a whiteboard).

• A list of 3-5 charities or causes your child cares about (e.g. animals, environment, children, health, local community).

• A budget - e.g. £100 in “donation money” (pretend).

• Optional: access to charity websites or leaflets for short descriptions.

What to do 💖

• Set the scenario. Tell your child they’ve just received £100 to donate to good causes - but they must decide how to share it out. Explain that this means thinking carefully about which causes matter most and how to make the biggest difference.

• Learn about each charity. Read or talk briefly about what each charity does, e.g.

• £10 plants trees 🌳

• £25 provides clean water 💧

• £50 supports medical care 🏥

• Make the allocations. Encourage your child to think about which causes feel most important to them. Ask them to divide their £100 across the different charities. They can choose to give it all to one or spread it out, as long as the total adds up to £100.

• Reflect and explain. Once they’ve finished, talk about why they made those choices. Did they want to help as many causes as possible? Or did they focus on one to make a bigger impact?

Questions to ask your child 💬

• “Which cause feels most important to you, and why?”

• “How did you decide how much to give to each one?”

• “If you could only pick one charity, which would you choose?”

• “Do you think everyone would make the same choices?”

• “How can small donations still make a big difference?”

What your child will learn 🎓

• To work within a fixed budget and use addition/subtraction to plan spending.

• To reason and justify decisions using values as well as numbers.

• To recognise that money can be used to help others and make a difference.

• To develop empathy, ethical thinking, and awareness of social responsibility.