Childrens savings fun with Pigby and Friends

More images from the day are on my Flickr 

Heya everyone!
A few weeks ago me and Vee took a trip to London to learn about banks and savings and to help Natwest and Britmums tell the world how children see banks, savings and money and what their thoughts were on essential questions like what is a bank, what does a bank look like and who looks after your money inside a bank. This was filmed by an amazing film crew and here's how it came out. So, so proud of Vee!

VoxPops by NatWest are a short series of videos where children are asked about money and finances to tie in with the bank's aim of both teaching more children to save money and to bring back saving ideas with Natwest's new First Account by going back to the old school to bring an entirely new generation of savers the epitome of awesome with Pigby, the latest NatWest Piggybank.

I hear you people. I know your casting you're minds back around 30 years ago now to remember the Piggybanks from NatWest. They were something special indeed, I remember getting upset Mum or Dad wouldn't get me one. 

Image credit - PiggybankPage.co.uk 

For the more nostalgic people who read my blog I'm going to disappoint you, the Westminster Piggy family are not being bought back,
But this time NatWest made the epic decision to ask children in 2012 to help design the piggybank in the competition 'Pigs By Kids'. After 2000 designs and 25,000 votes from around the UK. Finally the winning design by 13 year old Kwamina was chosen, then to the Aardman animation studio, the creators of Wallace and Gromit and her design soon came to life and was called Pigby. However that's not where it stops. Pigby decided to bring his friends to the party too. If you look at the video below you'll see what I mean.

Pigby and Friends are par of NatWest's new First Saver accounts, accounts designed for children aged three and upwards. In an 80's throwback they utilise the Pigby bank as an incentive for your children to learn how to save money. That way the kids can have money saved for the moment they want Dinosaurs, cheesy pop music the band's hoodie or even a games console.
On top of this Natwest with Aardman have created an interactive smartphone app to help children learn about saving money and have fun at the same time (of course parent's load it onto your phones for the kids but I bet it'll be fun! Kids get permission before installing or going online!) And for those who prefer their children not to pinch your smartphone there is also a Pigby's savings zone web portal too which comes in your child's welcome pack

I dropped Natwest a line and Aardman Animations to get their thoughts on Pigby and the first saver account and they said the following

David Crawford, Head of Savings at NatWest, says:
“Many parents may fondly remember the NatWest pigs from their childhood, and we hope this new generation of pigs can help teach children that saving can be fun as well as beneficial in later life. 

“By working with Aardman, who already excite and inspire children across the world with their animation, we’ve created a more modern set of characters to teach kids about the benefits of saving to buy the things they want.”

Heather Wright, Executive Producer at Aardman Animations adds:

“We have had a huge amount of fun developing these characters, especially Pigby, who although he is the youngest of the group and wants to be just like them in terms of their activities and escapades, is the one they all rely on when it comes to planning ahead!” 

Personally I think this is a great way to help children save money. They see more and more toys and gadgets on television they want and to give them a way to save money to get that one thing they want will be a great incentive for them to look after it and be proud they've bought and saved for it with their own money from their bank account.

The NatWest First Saver account is open to children under 16 and they’ll earn 1% on balances under £25,000 and 0.5% for balances over this amount. It’s an instant access account which means that savings are not locked in – helping children to balance saving versus spending.

For more information on Pigby and the Natwest First saver account please click here or pop into your local branch and get the kids saving.

Do you encourage the children to save money if so tell me how the kids save their pennies?
Paul

Disclosure: This post was written in association with Natwest and Britmums.