Product Review: The Digital Money Jar

Young children (this product is designed for use by children ages 5 and up) often like to save the coins they are given. Some keep them in drawers, boxes or jars. Some put them in savings accounts or give them to charity according to the values they are growing up around and trying out for themselves. I have observed that they rarely have any information about the relative value of coined money. While they may not really need it until they develop interest in spending - which tends to come a little bit later on - understanding the value of coins, relative to each other and to the numbers the kids are learning every day, seems like a good learning opportunity. This 'toy' brings saving, counting and learning together in one simple and fun-to-use device.

The device is quite simple in design and construction. Essentially, it is a clear jar with a top with a coin slot which automatically recognizes the coins inserted and maintains a digital total (that can be reset at any time) in clear LCD numbers on the top. Each time a coin is inserted, the number goes up according to that coins value. So, if the total is $3.55 and the child inserts a dime, the total changes to $3.65. In this way, the child can see the immediate calculation that has taken into account the value of the newly added coin. It is powered by two AA batteries.

Little kids love to put coins in slots. Often, it is to buy something from a machine. At other times, it is to play a music box or toy that responds, bank-like, to the insertion of money. In this device, distributed by Discovery Kids, the pay-off for depositing the coin is being shown the correct addition result! Ah ... learning.

The jar is clear so the child can watch their savings grow in the most literal sense of the word - and those of you who know children know that 'literal' is an appropriate word to characterize the world as they experience it. It is what makes sense to them. Five-year-olds are not yet, for the most part, into concepts.