Goal Getter: Grown-Ups Guide
How to play it, what it teaches, and how to talk about saving money together
Goal Getter is a real, week-by-week savings tracker children control. They pick something they truly want to save for, set its price, choose a small weekly plan, and then – over real weeks in real life – come back to log the money they actually saved. A glass jar slowly fills toward 100% as they make progress.
The big skill it builds is patience with a plan: setting a goal, saving a little each week, and watching steady habits add up. This is not a pretend game or a game of chance. The jar tracks real savings, but it does not store or move money. There is no way to lose, and mistakes are safe.
- What it teaches
- Setting a savings goal and reaching it with a steady weekly plan.
- How to use it
- Tap to choose a goal and add money; slide to set a weekly plan.
- Time to use
- A few minutes at a time, returning over real weeks as money is saved.
- Players
- One child; also great for an adult and child to use together.
- Internet needed
- No. After the game is loaded, it can be played offline.
- Accounts or personal info
- None. No login and no personal information collected.
- Works on
- Phone, tablet, or computer.
- Accessibility
- Keyboard- and screen-reader-friendly; motion can be reduced; there are no timers.
How It Works
The heart of Goal Getter is a glass savings jar. As the child saves, gold coins rise inside it, showing exactly how full the goal is. The jar is the signature visual element and also works as the screen-reader progress meter.
A first session usually goes like this:
- Pick a goal. Tap one of 12 picture choices, such as a New Bike, a Skateboard, or an Art Set.
- Set the price. A stepper adjusts the cost by −5, −1, +1, or +5 dollars so it can match the real price. Then tap “Create my goal.”
- Choose a weekly plan. Slide how much to set aside each week from allowance, chores, or both. The tracker shows a projected calendar date for reaching the goal.
- Come back and log real money. Each week, tap “Add money,” pick an amount and where it came from, and watch the jar rise.
Everything is tap-first with big buttons. Sliders set the plan, and there is no typing or time pressure. Feedback is immediate and kind: the jar fill, percent pill, and Saved / To-go / Weeks-left numbers all update together, and a friendly voice line is announced for screen readers. Cheerful milestone celebrations appear at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. If the child taps “I spent some,” the tracker gently shows how many extra weeks that spending may add – never a scolding, just the facts.
What It Teaches
The core idea is simple: a goal’s remaining price, divided by how much the child saves each week, tells them about how many weeks it will take. Goal Getter does that math for the child and turns it into a real calendar date.
It also teaches opportunity cost: what the child gives up by spending early. Say the child has saved $30 toward a $60 Video Game and saves $3 per week, leaving 10 weeks to go. Taking out $10 drops the saved amount to $20, and the tracker says it “adds about 4 weeks to your goal.” If a withdrawal still leaves enough cushion, it reassures: “Won’t move your date – nice cushion!”
Because this is a real tracker, only log money the child actually saved. The jar is meant to mirror real cash, a real savings account, or another real place where the money is kept. It grows from genuine, consistent habits – not luck or pretend.
The Three Levels
Pick the level that fits the child. Each one adds a little more detail. The tracker opens on Builder by default.
| Level | Ages | What changes at this level |
|---|---|---|
| Learner | 7–8 | One goal at a time; a single “Each week” slider with no separate chores amount; smaller amount choices such as 25¢, $1, and $5; prices from $5–$50; no history or chart. |
| Builder | 9–10 | Up to two goals; the plan splits into separate Allowance and Chores sliders; a written money story appears; amount choices add $10; prices from $5–$200. |
| Entrepreneur | 11–12 | Up to three goals; the money story shows a running balance; a savings chart appears showing real progress, planned progress, and the goal line; amount choices add $20; prices from $5–$500. |
How to Talk About It With Kids
Match your questions to where the child is. Keep it concrete for younger kids and add more reasoning as they grow.
Learner Ages 7–8
Keep it to one thing at a time: a goal is something the child wants, and saving means putting a little away each week until the jar is full. Tie the jar picture to real coins or bills they can hold.
Questions to ask
- What is the one thing you want to save for, and how much does it cost?
- If you save the same amount every week, does the jar fill up fast or slowly?
- How did it feel to watch the jar get a little fuller this week?
- What allowance or jobs could give you money to add next week?
Try it together: On allowance day, count the real coins or bills the child saved, add exactly that amount in Goal Getter, and read the projected date out loud together.
Builder Ages 9–10
Introduce the idea that savings can come from more than one place. Split the plan into Allowance and Chores, and notice how two streams can help the child reach the goal faster. Use the money story to look back at the habit.
Questions to ask
- How does adding chores money on top of allowance change your finish date?
- Look at your money story. Which weeks did you save the most, and why?
- You can track two goals now. How would you split your money between them?
- If you raised your weekly plan by just $1, how much sooner would you finish?
Try it together: Each week, decide how much comes from allowance and how much comes from chores. Log both, then open the money story and talk about the pattern over the last few weeks.
Entrepreneur Ages 11–12
Focus on the chart and projections: the green line is what the child really saved, the dashed blue line is the plan, and the red line is the goal. Talk about staying on or above the plan line and the true cost of spending early.
Questions to ask
- Is your real green line keeping up with your planned blue line? What would close the gap?
- Before taking money out, the tracker says how many weeks it adds. Is the purchase worth that delay?
- If you doubled your weekly plan, how much would the finish date move? Try it on the slider.
- With three goals possible, which should get the most money each week, and why?
Try it together: Use “Peek at the future” and the slider to run what-if scenarios, such as adding $2 more per week. Then read the chart and projected date and commit to a realistic plan.
Take It Off the Screen
- Make allowance day a weekly ritual: count the money the child actually set aside and log only that amount, so the jar mirrors real life.
- Help the child look up the true price of their goal and set it with the price stepper instead of relying only on the preset amount.
- Keep a physical jar, envelope, or savings account alongside the tracker so the on-screen fill matches real money.
- Before any purchase, use the “I spent some” preview to see how many weeks it would add, then decide together whether it is worth it.
- Review the money story together once a month to celebrate consistency and spot weeks when saving slipped.
Words to Know
- Savings goal
- A specific thing the child is saving up to buy, and the price it costs, such as a $20 Soccer Ball.
- Target / price
- The full amount the goal costs – the top line of the jar, or 100%.
- Weekly plan
- How much the child decides to put away each week from allowance, chores, or both. New goals start at $3.00 per week.
- Allowance
- Money the child regularly receives, such as a weekly amount from a grown-up, that they can choose to save.
- Chores money
- Money the child earns by doing jobs, set as a separate part of the weekly plan.
- Projected date
- The calendar date Goal Getter predicts the child will reach the goal if they keep following the plan. Each “week” is 7 days from today.
- Weeks left / To go
- Weeks left is how many more weeks until the goal, based on the amount still needed divided by the weekly plan and rounded up. To go is the number of dollars still needed.
- Milestone
- A celebrated checkpoint at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% full.
- Opportunity cost
- What the child gives up by spending now. Goal Getter shows how many extra weeks a withdrawal adds to the goal.
- Money story
- The list of every deposit and withdrawal, each tagged by source, such as Allowance, Chores, Gift, Found, or Spent, and date.
- Peek at the future
- A preview of what the plan would do over time. It then returns to today’s real total. The jar only counts money the child truly saved.