The big ideaWith cash, the coins move. With cards and apps, only numbers move.
How it works
With cash, the coins themselves change hands. Whoever holds the coins owns them.
With a card, a tap or an app, no coins move. The bank changes numbers in its book.
Digital money only works if the records are right, so banks keep them carefully and check them twice.
Cash still has strengths: it works with no power or signal, and it stays private.
Cash and digital money.How paying changed. The spacing is even, not to scale.
🪙coins💳a card📲a tap🔳a square code
Ways to pay today.
Example 1: Paying with cash
Grandpa Tom buys apples for 2 coins.
The 2 coins pass from his hand to the seller.
Whoever holds the coins owns them.
Example 2: Paying with a card
Tom pays by card.
The bank changes two numbers in its book: Tom's goes down by 2 and the seller's goes up by 2.
No coins moved. Only numbers did.
Example 3: A cash machine
The machine hands out coins.
The bank changes your number.
So even here, the bank still keeps the number.
Example 4: Shopping on a computer
Numbers move between banks.
A van brings the parcel.
The money is numbers, but the parcel is real.
Words to know
cash
Coins and notes that change hands.
digital
Money that moves as numbers in records.
records
The bank's book of who has what.
tap
A tap on a reader tells the bank to move numbers.
square code
A code you scan that can send a payment to the right place.
Watch out
A phone carries no coins. It only sends a message to move numbers.
Digital money needs correct records, or it does not work.
People pay in different ways in different places. Some use almost no cash, and in others it is still the main way.
Cash is worth the same now. There are just more ways to pay.
Try it
Tom pays by card. How many coins travel from Tom to the seller?
Name one thing cash can do in a power cut.
Which came first: cash machines or shopping on computers?
What stays the same from coins to apps?
Answers: 1. None · 2. It still works · 3. Cash machines · 4. Money is a promise we all agree on
Try at homeWith a grown-up, count the ways they paid this week: cash, a card, a tap, an app. Which was used most?
For grown-upsAsk a grown-up to count the ways they paid this week: cash, a card, a tap or an app. Which was used most? Staying safe when paying online is a story in Digital Life.
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