For me in the 90's it was Civilization. Money in this sort of management video game has a lot in common with managing real money. There are a lot of things you want that cost money, and you don't have enough money for everything, so you have to make tough decisions. Sometimes you should know that you'll need money in the future, so it makes sense to save. Money is really useful, so it's worth working pretty hard if you can make a lot of money. Sometimes you need to do some math to figure out if you have enough money to do something or not, and doing that math will help you make better decisions. Sometimes you can spend money in a risky way to try to make more money, and that might be a good strategy or not depending on the details, so you should dig into the details.
Someone can tell you in a class, "Don't blow your money on stupid stuff", but it doesn't really sink in the way it does when you rush-buy a temple because you're impatient, then you get invaded, and you are kicking yourself that you didn't save enough money to rush-buy some chariots for defense.
They also made a game out of calculating the tip together, so I saw exactly how much money it cost every time we ate out. To this day, I still eat out rarely and never order soft drinks at restaurants because it's such a clear waste of money. It may seem like a trivial amount of money, but I had plenty of peers in tech who paid $20+ a day to eat out every meal. It adds up quickly.
There are also some very practical lessons, like exactly how to write a check, enter an entry in a checkbook, or pay for gas at the gas station, which my parents made sure I saw them do and explained each step, as well as the standard cautionary tales about how credit/interest works and the importance of paying bills before they accrue interest.
Depending on your culture, it might be weird /unusual/inappropriate to talk about how much rent you pay, how high that restaurant bill was, what you pay for a new car etc.
But if the kids are supposed to learn the value of things and of money, don't dodge those questions.
So step 1 is to figure out a way to get them earning their own money, either a job or some sort of allowance.
We started our kids with a job at age 12, we tried allowances before then but dropped it because it was tied to doing work around the house which we felt they should do anyway.
Inflation eats savings and debt is incredibly cheap at the moment. Being 'good' with money basically keeps you at the exact same socioeconomic level but risk-taking and entrepreneurship generally correlate with social mobility.
Anyhow, IMO, make them do chores for an 'allowance'. Teach them that work = making money. As they get older you should instil in them that making more money is far superior to all the saving in the world, especially at a young age. Education and risk-taking in your 20's is far superior to trying to save for retirement from 20 years old.
For example let them save for a box of LEGO they want to have. While saving they might see something else they would like. The choice about whether to continue saving or buy someting else is very helpful to think about money.
Or let them "invest" it, in return for a greater allowance in the future.
Make it clear to them that if they do certain specific chores, you'll pay them for it. Do not force them to do the chores, simply make getting paid for doing it an option.
Bring them in to the monthly discussion of the families finances
Basically you need to gamify personal finance.
The world is different enough to little kid brains, literally, that trying to instill the adult concept of money is like teaching a fish to ride a bicycle.
Now that they are older (late teens) I see now some opportunities that were not there before.
When they are little they need the emotional support and love to build the psychic infrastructure for safe, self-aware, healthy adulthood.
One can play games of course with monetary values but what is happening of importance in those games is the interaction itself, those emotional dynamics, not the material.
Money is a very, very refined sociological tool the purpose, context, utility, scarcity dynamics only make sense for a kid who can begin to participate in society. In most cases this doesn't start to be the case until mid or late teen years.
So my advice- for little kids, model love, openness, forgiveness, care, empathy, honesty, responsibility- all those underlying traits involved in being a good human. Much later, when the time is right, they can start to learn to apply those capabilities to the domains that involve money.
Best wishes.
One thing that I believe my kids has responded well to is the re-assurnace that when they have earned money it is theirs to do with as they wish. It won't be confiscated for punishment, and we don't force our children to make specific purchases. Further while both parents will often advise on purchases, we don't stand in the way of kids making bad decisions (quality, quantity, utility, etc).
As I say, I still squirm a little about this, because really they ought to do most of these chores without needing bribes, but you do what you must to survive.
0. Save first. Spend the rest.
1. No money / allowances for doing chores. Chores are part of your life in your household.
2. Maintain a piggy bank or a notebook to note down what you have received and put it in savings. This would be the start of your wealth. My parents didn't adjust this amount to account for inflation, but I plan to do this for my children. They also kept the money in their bank account, but I kept track of the money in my notebook.
3. Maintain a notebook showcasing income/expense wrt your piggy bank.
4. After a certain age, sit with your child and explain the monthly expenses and investments and why they constitute a % of the total income/expense. Additionally teach them about investments and insurance.
5. Explain why certain things are outside of your capability to buy stuff. This would enable them to understand that not everything is affordable.
When they were very little, I did the following:
1. Bought a cash register at Staples and we would have "store days" on the weekend where the kids would make stuff to sell to mom and dad. They had to learn how to use the real cash register to accomplish their sales. That cash register is one of the things that my kids remember so fondly they won't let me get rid of it.
2. Got each of them Greenlight cards almost as soon as they were available. They get real credit cards with their name on them. I have a parent wallet that I can then put money onto their credit cards either one time or assign an allowance or give money for chores, whatever. I can see everything they spend, I can stop them from spending money on certain categories and I can turn their cards on/off with the app. Works really great - link to sign up with a $30 bonus for both of us:
https://share.greenlight.com/582861?share_id=701600482970897...
Humans are very bad at predicting the future or looking ahead, so planning, having contingencies and being prepared to various degrees is the foundation for a lot of other things that make society/civilisation work.
As they get older I will definitely introduce other concepts like personal finance, checking accounts, credit and loans, investing, taxes, saving, and so on. Like any complex problem I don't think there is a simple solution, just lots of conversations over time.
Part of it was her convenience, but it taught me about growing my money. As long as I had some cash available, there was a possibility that it would accumulate interest.
My parents opened a building society (mutual ) account for me when I was in my early teens (this is in the UK)
Kids don’t have that much use for money, and some families can’t afford to hand over any cash to them. Screen time on the other hand can be unlimited, but it something you do want to limit, and can be a useful tool for teaching delayed gratification.