Teachers Resources About
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Your class is about to argue over the government budget

Students drag sliders, make impossible trade-offs, and discover why politicians look so tired. No installs, no accounts, just a class code and a room full of opinions.

Try the Interactive Demo See the workshop plan
Budget Bird in play
No student logins
A class code is all they need.
Any device
Chromebooks, tablets, phones, with no install.
10–20 minutes
Fits a single period with time to debate.
Free to run
Unlimited classes and students.

Watch a class run Budget Bird

See what happens when 30 students realise they can't fund everything. Spoiler: it gets loud.

Try the Demo Explore the budget

Running a class takes three steps

1
Run a class
Start a game, choose a challenge and time limit. A class code is generated for students.
Under a minute
2
Students join
They enter the code at budgetbird.co.nz/join on any device, set a team name, and play.
10–20 minutes
3
Discuss & learn
See budgets, outcomes and reflections live. Arguments guaranteed. Learning disguised as fun.
5–15 minutes

Why teachers keep running it

It does the hard part of a civics lesson for you: making students care.

Zero prep before the bell
No printing, no accounts, no setup homework. Open the dashboard, start a class, and you're teaching.
Real New Zealand numbers
Students work with the actual Budget: the same categories and trade-offs ministers face, scaled to $1,000.
The discussion runs itself
Every class ends with disagreement about what mattered most, and prompts ready to turn that into a values conversation.
Evidence you can show
A live class view and a class report capture what students chose and why, useful for reflection and for your own records.
Curriculum fit
Social SciencesMathematicsEnglishCritical thinkingCivic participationYears 7–13
See the full alignment
Classroom impact so far

In classrooms from Auckland to Otago

Live stats from real Budget Bird classes, updated as teachers run them.

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Map of New Zealand showing where Budget Bird is being used
Every pin is a school that has played

A workshop plan you can teach from

30–45 minutes, written for Years 9–13 and adaptable for adult or community groups.

Overview
Title: Can You Balance the Books and Shape the Future?
Audience: Secondary students (Years 9–13), adaptable for adults and community groups
Platform: Budget Bird, an interactive online budgeting tool
Learning objectives
Explain the basic structure of a public budget (revenue and expenditure).
Use a digital tool to explore and adjust a real government or council budget.
Identify trade-offs and justify funding decisions.
Work in groups to build and present priorities; reflect on real-world impact.
Agenda (suggested)
5–7 min
Warm-up
Quick value-based dilemmas to surface trade-offs.
5–7 min
Demo
Walk through the controls; surplus and deficit indicators.
10–15 min
Group challenge
Adjust the budget to hit goals and values.
15 min
Presentations
One-minute share-outs; optional vote or debate.
5–10 min
Wrap-up
Reflection prompts and real-world links.
Download the plan (PDF)

Questions teachers ask

Nope. Students go to budgetbird.co.nz/join, enter the class code, pick a team name, and they're in. No sign-ups, no downloads.
Harry Cosslett
Harry Cosslett
Founder, Budget Bird
Who's behind it

Made by a former public service finance analyst

I spent four years as a Senior Strategic Finance Analyst in the New Zealand public service, and saw how hard it is to make sense of where public money goes. Budget Bird started from a simple idea: instead of just teaching people about those choices, why not let them make them?

I'm continuing to develop it alongside the teachers and students using it in classrooms around New Zealand, so if something would make it work better for your class, tell me.

Get in touch

Teacher resources

Everything you need to plan, run, and follow up a Budget Bird session.

Lesson plans & prompts
Ready-to-use workshop plans for 15–60 minute sessions, plus discussion prompts for before, during, and after the game.
Browse lesson plans
Curriculum alignment
How Budget Bird maps to Social Sciences, Maths, English, and key competencies across Years 7–13.
See the alignment
Public Finance 101
A crash course on how the NZ government budget works: revenue, spending, the budget process, and key concepts.
Start the crash course
Getting started
Set up in 3 steps, plus FAQ on devices, game codes, and student privacy.
Read the guide

Ready to spark a small but perfectly educational budget crisis?

Create a class, share the code, and let the debate start. It takes about a minute to set up.

Try the Interactive Demo
Need help getting set up? Contact us.