Trial resource - not yet verified for classroom use. This is a starting point to help you build your own lesson, not a finished or approved plan. Cyber Safe with Monkleton is new, and we are shaping this with teachers - please adapt it freely, use what works, and tell us what doesn't so we can improve it. Once it has been shaped and checked with teachers, we will mark it verified. Feedback: cybersafe-feedback@monkleton.io.
In-app spending and real money
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This is a starting point, not a script - take what is useful, change what is not, and shape it around your class. It brings a Cyber Safe with Monkleton lesson into the classroom: the behaviour, not just the rule.
The big idea
In-app purchases are real money, even when they are dressed up as gems or coins. Games are designed to make you want to spend - and a budget, plus a pause, puts you back in charge.
Learning intentions (adapt to your class)
- I understand that in-app currency is real money.
- I can spot the tricks that push me to spend, like countdowns and "you're so close".
- I know to pause and check with a grown-up before buying.
A suggested shape
Starter (about 5 minutes)
"LIMITED TIME! You're SO close - just tap to buy!" Ask: what is this trying to make you do, and how?
Explore (about 15 minutes)
Draw out how gems and coins hide real money, how a free trial can quietly become a subscription, and how the urgency is manufactured on purpose.
Practise (about 10 minutes)
Pupils spot the tricks in some sample screens, then design a "pause before you tap" rule of their own.
Safe Check plenary (about 10 minutes)
Pupils state the rule: it is real money; the game does not decide, you do.
Ready-to-use resources
- Background for you: our guide How can I stay in control of in-app purchases and subscriptions?.
- To send home: share that guide with families, along with turning on purchase approvals.
In the app
This lesson pairs with an in-app quest in Cyber Safe with Monkleton, so classroom time and screen time reinforce the same habits. The app is in its first previews now, and supporting media is coming soon. Until then, the discussion and activities here stand on their own.
Tell us how it went
This is a trial, and your classroom experience is exactly what will make it better. If you use it, we would love to know what worked and what you changed - email cybersafe-feedback@monkleton.io.
Trial guidance, shared early for teacher feedback - please adapt it before any classroom use, and let us know how it went. Product names are used only to describe their features; Monkleton Labs is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, them. No ads, no affiliate links.