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Everything you need to run a great Budget Bird session

Lesson plans, discussion prompts, curriculum mapping and a public finance crash course. All free, all written for New Zealand classrooms.

Try the Interactive Demo Download the workshop plan

First time? Start here.

1

Create a class

Choose a challenge and time limit, and get a four-letter join code.

2

Share the code

Students go to budgetbird.co.nz/join on any device. No accounts needed.

3

Debrief together

Compare budgets and reflections on your dashboard, then talk about why.

Read the getting started guide →

Guides and reading

Most read guide

Public Finance 101

A teacher's crash course on how NZ government budgets actually work, so you can confidently answer any question your students throw at you.

Start the crash course

Where the money comes from

The Budget process, month by month

Key concepts for the classroom

A five-question quiz to test yourself

Plans, prompts and tips

A ready-to-teach workshop plan plus the questions that make the debrief work.

›Workshop plan (30–45 minutes)

›Adapting for 15, 30 or 60 minutes

›Discussion prompts: before, during, after

›Tips for a great session

Browse lesson plans

Run your first session

Set up, troubleshoot, and get in touch. The practical stuff for the ten minutes before the bell.

›Three steps to your first class

›What devices students need

›If a student gets disconnected

›Pausing, resuming and seeing results

How it maps to the NZ Curriculum

Learning areas, the MoE financial education scope and sequence, and copy-ready wording for your planning.

›Curriculum learning areas

›Financial education scope & sequence, Years 7–13

›Money categories covered

›MoE best practices alignment

See the alignment

How long have you got?

Pick a session length and we'll tell you exactly what to cut.

Skip the warm-up, 10-minute game, quick whole-class debrief: "What surprised you?"

Short warm-up, 15-minute game, 10-minute debrief with two or three prompts.

Full warm-up and demo, 20-minute game, group presentations and a deeper debrief.

Print and take with you

The 30–45 minute plan with objectives and a timed agenda.

Curriculum one-pager

Learning areas and year-level mapping to paste into your planning.

Discussion prompt cards

Before, during, after and going-deeper questions, ready to print.

Need a hand, or an idea for a resource?

We're a small team and genuinely happy to help you get set up, whether it's a technical issue or advice on running a session. If something would make these resources work better for your class, tell us.

Email us

harry@budgetbird.co.nz

Usually a reply within a day

Read enough? Take it for a spin.

The interactive demo takes about three minutes and shows you exactly what teachers and students see.

Try the Interactive Demo