Teaching Tips for Lesson 10: Saving One Dime at a Time

This is the tenth of seventeen blogs providing practical teaching tips inspired by the lyrics and concepts from the Sammy Rabbit song Get in the Habit!

In the original blog, How the Sammy Rabbit Song Get in the Habit Teaches Kids 17 Money Lessons — Plus Powerful Vocabulary, we explored how the song supports financial education in three powerful ways:

Through clear, repeatable phrases directly from the song
Through real-world money lessons that naturally emerge when kids discuss and apply those phrases or concepts
Through everyday money language that builds financial vocabulary.

Now, we’re expanding on that foundation with a series of blogs that offer teaching tips for each of the 17 individual lessons embedded in the song. Each blog will include: (1) Simple questions to ignite discussion and learning (2) Two easy-to-implement micro-activities (3) A challenge action step (4) Key words to build personal finance and life-skills vocabulary.

Let’s begin with Lesson 10, built on the phrase: "saving one dime at a time!"

For context, the full lyrics for each phrase are:

You'll feel fine, saving one dime at a time!

The full phrase has been intentionally organized into separate lessons, making it easy to teach one concept at a time or combine them as a sequence.

You can click on the following links to find: song lyrics and a karaoke Video.

Summary

Lesson: Discuss the power of small, steady steps. Children learn that saving doesn’t have to be big or dramatic to make a difference—what matters is consistency. Small amounts saved regularly build strong habits and meaningful progress over time.

Share with kids: Good habits like saving help you feel proud and happy. When you make progress toward your goals, it feels really good inside.

1. Simple Discussion Questions

Use one or two—short, easy, and great for home or classroom conversations.

What does “one dime at a time” mean?
Is it okay to save just a small amount?
What happens when you save a little bit again and again?
How can small steps help you reach big goals?
How does saving make you feel inside?

2. Two Micro-Activities (2–5 Minutes Each)

Micro-Activity 1: Small Adds Up

Materials:
Pretend dimes, coins, or drawn circles on paper

Give each child several “dimes.”
Ask them to:

Place one dime at a time into a “save” pile
Count how many dimes they saved

Ask:

Did saving one dime feel easy?
How would this grow if you did it every time?

Purpose: Shows how small, steady actions add up over time.

Micro-Activity 2: My Saving Streak

Materials: Paper and crayons (optional)

Ask kids to:

Draw a row of small marks, dots, or coins
Color one mark for each time they save

Have them say:

“One step at a time—I’m saving!”

Purpose: Reinforces consistency and builds pride in progress.

3. Challenge Action Step

Challenge:
This week, practice saving one small amount each time you get money.

Ask kids to:

Save a dime, coin, or pretend money
Add it to their jar or envelope
Say each time:
“One dime at a time!”

This builds confidence and shows that progress doesn’t have to be big to matter.

4. Key Vocabulary Words

These words help children understand consistency and progress.

Saving, Save: Putting some money aside instead of spending it right away.

One: One means a single thing. It is just one—not two or more.

Dime: A dime is a small coin worth ten cents. Ten pennies make one dime. So do two nickels.

Time: Time is how we know when things happen—like now, later, or tomorrow. It helps us know when to start, stop, and wait.

*Small: Not big, but still important

*Steady: Doing something again and again

*Consistency: Keeping up a habit over time

*Progress: Moving closer to a goal

*Habit: Something you do regularly

So when we say “saving one dime at a time,” it means small steps, done often, can lead to big results.

(Note: Words with an asterisk * are not in the song lyrics, but they are important to this lesson, so we’ve included kid-friendly definitions.)

Now Check Out Lesson 11

This blog is part of a 17-lesson series that uses the Sammy Rabbit song Get in the Habit to make it fun, easy, and effective for anyone to talk with and teach young kids about great money habits.

When ready, check outTeaching Tips for Lesson 11: You Can Watch Your Money Grow and Grow and Grow! It focuses on how your money will grow, when you make saving a habit.

Additional Songs and Fun Resources

Keep:

kids listening, learning, singing and growing with a FREE or PREMIUM Money School Memberships.
parents, teachers, and community leaders learning and growing their financial literacy teaching skills by reading Sam X Renick's series of articles: Money Lessons Parents Should Teach Kids!
delivering financial education at home, in school, and other venues with Sammy's Dream Big Financial Education curriculum!

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