When they set their minds on an expensive toy or even one they genuinely fancy, you can make a deal with them. Help them to make their own money box and explain to them what it is used for and what fun it will be to buy a toy that they've saved up for.

Material required:
- A balloon.
- Newspaper.
- Child's glue.
- Small paintbrush.
- Recipient.
- Water.
- Sellotape.
- Cardboard tube like those used for kitchen paper.
- Needle.
- Brushes.
- Paints or tempera.

How to make a money box-pig
- Cut the newspaper into strips of two or three centimetres in width and five or six centimetres in length.
- Blow up the balloon to the required size and tie it up.
- Mix the glue and water in equal parts in a recipient and start spreading the mixture over the balloon with the brush, later sticking on the strips of newspaper.
- Cover it two or three times, leaving a small opening for the money.

Now you simply have to finish it off. Take the cardboard tube and cut four equal trotters. Attach them with sellotape to the lower part of the balloon. With the remaining cardboard make a small circle for the nose and cut out two triangles for the ears. Also attach them with sellotape. You can make the tail with a little strip of cardboard. You will have to cover all these exterior pieces as you did the balloon, with paper strips and a mixture of glue and water. Apply two layers so that it is consistent and leave to dry for 24 hours. Once dry, check that the pig is hard all over and pop the interior balloon with a needle and remove through the hole.

Time to paint the money box
Once the pig is ready and completely dry, you can start to paint it. The best paints to use are tempera. Allow your child to choose the colours: who said all pigs have to be pink?

Using this same technique you can make all sorts of figures: horses, sheep or any animal you wish. You simply have to modify the cardboard on which the faces are drawn.

Other equally simple money boxes
Money boxes of different shapes and sizes can be made. One of the most popular is the sock box, for which you simply need a brightly coloured sock, on which you place a face and a small hole for the mouth. You then cover it in the same way we covered the balloon.

Once the money box is ready, you must start using it. Insert some coins and find an appropriate place for it in your child's bedroom. Remind them that the quicker they save, the sooner they will be able to buy the toy they saw in the shop. They will become used to saving and when you open the money box you will see that they will have a far better understanding of what to spend their money on. They are starting to understand the value of things.