With more money on their hands, kids are fast becoming the center of a growing number of marketing strategies, with more consumer goods and advertisements appealing more to them.

"It makes sense to give children the tools that will enable them to have a more mature way of dealing with money at an early age," Lorenzo Chan, president and chief executive of Pioneer Life, said.

With wealth comes smarts. Recognizing the need to hone children’s money smarts, two organizations have joined to push financial literacy among children. The Smarter Piggy Bank Clinic is a project of Pioneer Life and Blue Cow Co., Inc. and aims to promote financial literacy through a hands-on method of teaching. This workshop is especially designed for students from grades one to four, and tackles money values and the importance of saving and spending wisely.

The program was co-developed with Hong Kong-based money management tutor Sophie Paine of A and B make 3 Ltd. and is based on a financial literacy course for children. Running 30 to 60 minutes long, the highly interactive course focuses on the concept of the needs and wants of children through interactive games and songs that encourage their active participation.

One song that was used as a teaching tool was "Bahay Kubo" with some parts of its lyrics changed into items the children normally ask their parents to buy for them. While singing, the kids identified various items and determined which of those were their needs and which were their wants. A competition among various grade levels capped the activity with prizes given to the winners.

"Through the activities, children were made to understand how their parents earn the money they spend and how they, as children, can somehow earn their money too by working hard in school and helping in household chores," Lorenzo said, "Teaching the children the value of hard-earned money, and the difference between their needs and wants gives them the tools they need to be more discerning when it come to the money they spend and save."

The Gift of Advanced Learning (G.O.A.L) Montessori School at Sun Valley Paranaque was the first to experience Pioneer’s new financial teaching method for kids. The children’s participation in the program was overwhelming.