Amazon are selling this Moulin Roty Les Loustics money box for £7.92 instead of £20.95.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Moulin Roty Les Loustics money box

I have a bit of a thing for money boxes; I loved having somewhere special to put pocket money in when I was little - it was more fun to save it up at home and then take, what seemed like, a huge stash of cash to the bank to deposit in my bank account, rather than never actually seeing the money mount up before your very eyes.

I also think it's a lovely way to introduce children to the concept of saving their money and being content to leave it be, instead of feeling that BURNING desire to spend it straight away.

This Moulin Roty Les Loustics money box is cute without being overly 'cutesy', which makes it perfect for both boys and girls - this is ideal if you're looking for a little 'welcome to the world' gift that isn't a blanket or a toy.

The lovely elephant with his lion and bear pals is suitable for little ones aged three years and over, if you're going to let them get their hands on it (children and small coins just don't mix!) but if it's going to be kept nicely out of the way on a shelf until their old enough to not want to eat their money, then I'm sure you can buy it for little ones who are younger.

Thanks to dudebar at HUKD 

Amazon are selling this Royal Worcester Paddington Bear money box for £5.99 rather than £9.50.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Royal Worcester Paddington Bear money box

I love Paddington Bear and see him quite often as I pass through Paddington station on a regular basis.  It always makes me smile watching the tourists strolling around, clutching their Paddington Bears and other merchandise and having their photos taken under the Paddington sign.

This Royal Worcester Paddington Bear money box is just lovely for a young Paddington fan and anything that encourages the early saving of money is a good thing in my book.

Shaped like a book, it features Paddington clutching a newspaper under one arm, carrying his little PB monogrammed suitcase in one hand and an umbrella in the other (fitting for the weather we've been having for the time of year) - the money slot is in the spine.

The Royal Worcester Paddington Bear money box comes gift boxed too and will make a very lovely little gift for either a birthday or a slightly different christening gift.

Thanks to dudebar at HUKD

Play have reduced the price of this Pac-Man money box, that has sound, down from £14.99 to £6.49.

• Click HERE to take a look at this Pac-Man money box

I was talking about Pac-Man with my 17-year-old son and 16 year-old-daughter the other day; there used to be a huge Pac-Man arcade machine at my local swimming pool and I was trying to explain to them how amazing and exciting it was playing games back then even though they were basic.

Pac-Man seems to be making a bit of a come back too, my youngest has an original Pac-Man game on his iPod Touch and loves it - I guess good games will always be winners.

This Pac-Man money box is a rather fabulous little thing in my opinion - he's fun, he's cool and he'll (hopefully) encourage early saving habits and THAT can only be a good thing.

He measures 12cms, makes that very familiar Pac-Man sound every time money is dropped in and needs three AAA batteries which aren't included.

There's nothing else to pay for this Pac-Man money box as delivery is free with Play, although it's too late to have him delivered in time for Christmas he would make for a great place to save Christmas present money afterwards.

Thanks to ZelentchukUK at HUKD

Let's say your child has just turned seven or eight. So you're probably just getting into the whole secondary school angst thing, right? University is not exactly on your mind as it is about 10 years away. Only, think about just how fast the last 10 years has gone.

With my son only just turning six it definitely wasn't on mine either. But then a friend who works for a Russell Group university (yes, I had to look up the meaning of that too) was talking about the fees being charged by Middlesex University. My jaw hit the ground.

Here's a scary statistic. By the age of 17 (yes, just 17!)  more than 50% of children have either been in debt or are still in debt. That's according to research conducted by the government agency EdComs in 2007.

The concept of saving money so that it builds up and you can buy something, but later, is a really tough one to convey to younger kids. But it is better to start sooner than later. Especially if you want your child to avoid that debt trap.

The concept of saving

I've recently found out just hard the concept of money can be for little ones. Last week my six year old decided he wanted something from the toy shop that cost £20. But, he only had £5 of birthday money left.

So, now we're having a go at learning how to save up money to get that more expensive toy. It is a little harder than I thought it would be though. I thought I had done a fairly good job of explaining to him how money works, how you get money (you earn it by working) and what the purpose of money is.

But clearly I hadn't quite got there. He could grasp quite easily that he could put his money together and save up for the toy, but not about how that money was going to appear or the length of time it would take. Ever since, I've had him ask every day if he was getting his toy that day.

Since he gets £2 of pocket money a week, it is going to take a little longer than a few days!

Visualising Savings

The blog, Family Budget Ideas, has some good tips on How To Teach Children to Save Money.

The blog's number one tip: "Knowing what money means is a great place to start.  As soon as they know how to count then money can be introduced.  Keep things easy for them to understand and use role playing to introduce concepts  for them".

The second tip is to show them the value in saving money.

We've made a chart. Just a piece of card on which I've drawn three columns, and 20 rows. Each row represents £1 until he gets to £20. So far he's got £5 on there and if he doesn't blow his pocket money on Kinder Eggs this week, he'll have another £2.

I'm hoping that this visual representation will allow him to track his savings, and see them grow.

The reason we're doing it this way, and not by putting the money into the piggy bank, is that he still doesn't quite get that a £5 note is worth more than a £1 coin, and that it isn't the number of coins you have but how much they add up to that counts.

That's something we'll tackle properly over the coming weeks using his play money. But for this purpose I needed a concept he could grasp a lot more quickly.

The whole exercise has made me realise how ill prepared I am for dealing with this. My son needs to learn how to manage his own money, and I don't think you're ever too young to start to grasp that concept. What do other people advise?

Money Boxes

Where to put the cash your children are saving? Apparently, according to government research undertaken in 2007, 42% of children prefer to keep their cash in traditional money boxes.

You could make one out of an old tin, box or plastic container. Getting the kids to decorate it will give it more of a personal feel. We've found here on PlayPennies that something a little more high tech goes down well.

That's the Science Museum ATM money bank (see picture above). It comes in a mini version too, and this one was flagged up on our website on Saturday, on half price offer at Argos. Click here to read more about the Science Museum mini ATM money bank.

There's  something about physically seeing the money building up that seems to be inspiring for children.

It rather inspires me I have to say!

What are you favourite tips for helping to get the kiddies to save up their money, instead of spending it all straight away (usually, in my experience, on sweets)?

Depending on how little your little ones are, teaching them how to manage their money might seem a long way off yet. But new reports indicate that the average student debt stands at around £15,812 so perhaps it's never too early to lay the groundwork for helping your children to understand money and, where possible, avoid debt.

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls recently proposed that personal finance lessons should be introduced in primary schools. I love that idea and think schools have an important role to play in teaching children about money. I know my 5 year old has an inherent willingness to listen to anything his beloved teacher tells him, while he's more inclined to disagree with most things I say! Moreover, I will never understand how I left school with no concept of budgeting or personal finance and yet wasn't allowed to go on to University unless I had grasped mathematical milestones like Pythagoras' Rule and algebra. Which, incidentally, I've never once needed since.

But Lisa Wynn, Director of Corporate Potential and Coaching for Dads believes that changing the way children are taught about money at home is instrumental in paving the way to a debt-free generation. Lisa is a master certified coach and qualified wealth creation coach and she's convinced that giving children too much too young will result in a flurry of young people growing up with unrealistic expectations and bad money management skills.

Lisa says; “As parents we are often guilty of creating our kids’ bad habits and then criticising them for having them! By teaching youngsters from an early age simple ways of managing their money, from buying them their first piggy bank to opening up a savings account in their name, we can help to ensure they don’t make the same mistakes that we might have made.”

Lisa has outlined five tips below that she uses with her own daughters to teach them about money:

Start Small

A simple piggy bank will help to teach even the youngest kids the importance of saving and also the reward at the end once it is full! Once they get a bit older open a bank account for them. They can go to the bank with you and pay in their own pocket money. Not only will your child feel more grown up, it will also teach them the different ways of saving their money.

The Power of Negotiation

Negotiation is not such a popular practice in the western world nowadays, although it is a powerful skill to have. I have taught my girls to negotiate for their pocket money each week. This has helped them develop this new skill and use it in a way to benefit themselves. They can see the connections between good behaviour and being helpful and the money they receive.

Talk Together

Try speaking to your children about money in a positive light. Children are often used to negative connotations like “Money doesn’t grow on trees!” but explaining the importance of money and keeping within a budget in a light-hearted way will help children remember this and pick up good habits for the future.

Challenge your own demons

Think about what your parents taught you about money. Do you want your children to inherit the same beliefs? Changing your own view of money and the bad habits you have picked up will help you become a great role model for your children.

Try tough love

Don't think that bailing them out is always the best thing to do; we all need to learn from our mistakes from time to time. With older children if a small, unexpected crisis crops ups it may be better to take a step back and let them work it out for themselves. This will allow your child to use the skills they have learnt, under the watchful eye of mum and dad.

If children grow up uneducated about money and budgeting, whilst being sheltered from issues such as debt they will merely follow in our footsteps and pick up bad habits. By introducing some fun ways for your children to learn how to look after their own money at home, by the time they reach school age they will have already learnt the value and importance of money and the art of saving for things that they really want. You never know you too may even learn something in the process.

Thanks to Lisa Wynn for her advice for helping children grow up to be confident and sensible with money. I'm definitely going to try some of these steppings stones with my boys and particularly like the idea of giving them some control over their finances. I think credit is a key concept to explain to children too, and pocket money can be a brilliant way of teaching that concept from the earliest years. Playing shops is another practical way of making money management fun from an early age.

We'd love to know what your top tips are for teaching good money management at home. So drop us a comment if you've got any tips worth sharing!