Making financial education fun for children

Singapore

FORTY children from The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) put up a special performance at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival on Wednesday.

Nearly 200 participants from the community including BT BAF, Ang Mo Kio Family Service Centre, AWWA Family Service Centre, and Kampung Senang were invited by Prudential Singapore - the carnival's title sponsor - to attend the occasion.

The performers, managed by The Rice Company, presented a 30-minute set that combined elements of percussion, song, dance and theatre.

The Rice Company provides training in the arts to children from financially-disadvantaged backgrounds.

The show was inspired by and built around Cha-Ching, a financial literacy programme developed by Prudence Foundation - Prudential's community investment arm - in 2011.

The programme is designed to help children aged between seven and 12 learn fundamental money management concepts of earn, save, spend and donate.

Prudential Singapore's head of community investment Yeoh El Lynn said the best way for children to learn is through play.

"We partnered with The Rice Company because we wanted to instill valuable money-smart skills to children through a fun activity that both engages as well as inspires," she said.

"We hope our beneficiaries had a memorable time and went away wiser about financial matters."