<![CDATA[Financial literacy and numeracy are fundamental life skills that should ideally be instilled from elementary school age, as this is the period when children begin to recognize the concepts of money, transactions, and basic resource management. However, financial literacy education in some elementary schools tends to remain limited to verbal delivery of material without practical experience, which may make it difficult for students to connect mathematical concepts with everyday situations. This community service activity aims to improve elementary school students' understanding of basic financial concepts (recognizing the value of money, distinguishing between needs and wants, and understanding the benefits of saving) while sharpening numeracy skills through a learning-by-playing approach. The "Smart Money Kids" program was implemented on 2 September 2026 in a 90-minute session with 24 fourth-grade students (out of 25 targeted) at SDN 8 Juli, Bireuen Regency, through shopping and saving game simulations using play money, in which students took turns acting as buyers and sellers, calculated change, prepared simple shopping budgets, and practiced saving habits using piggy banks. The implementation method consisted of preparation, socialization and education, game simulation, and evaluation through pre-test and post-test. Descriptive results show that the overall mean score increased from 64.2 in the pre-test to 86.7 in the post-test (a gain of 22.5 points), with the largest gain in calculating change, alongside observed student enthusiasm throughout the activity. These findings suggest that an educational game-based approach has potential as an alternative learning medium for introducing financial literacy and numeracy to elementary school students in an enjoyable and meaningful way; however, the results cannot be generalized because the activity had no comparison group.]]>
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