Bank Hapoalim will open a temporary financial education complex for children at Tel Aviv Port later this month, offering families a series of free activities designed to teach children about earning, spending, budgeting, and consumer choices.
The “Poalim Junior City” complex will operate from August 18 through August 27 at the Yordei HaSira compound in Tel Aviv Port and will be open to customers of all Israeli banks. Participation is free but requires advance registration, which opens on Monday, August 10.
The project, aimed at children ages 5-13, turns basic financial concepts into a simulated miniature economy.
Children entering the employment section will receive an employee card, hat, and apron before completing age-adjusted tasks at a series of “workplaces.” Activities will include sorting merchandise, baking challah, packing eggs, pricing products, and processing online shopping orders.
After completing the tasks, participants will visit a simulated payroll department and receive a prepaid card loaded with the “salary” they earned.
The pop-up is designed to teach financial decision-making and budgeting through fun activities
They will then move to a shopping area designed to resemble a supermarket, where they can spend their earnings while completing interactive exercises intended to encourage smarter purchasing decisions and budgeting.
The activities include a shopping-list memory game, a consumer trivia challenge, an AI-based game asking children what they might want to be when they grow up, and a budgeting exercise centered on how to allocate money for spending at a mall.
The experience concludes with Habizbazim, a participatory show for children and their families about financial behavior.
The production is based on a book adapted specifically for Bank Hapoalim and focuses on choices in a world of abundance while emphasizing creativity, talent, and persistence.
Additional activities outside the main complex will include a coloring wall and a giant piggy bank.
“An important part of launching the ‘Poalim Junior’ product was our desire to establish the best financial education system in Israel for children,” said Bank Hapoalim chief marketing officer Yigal Barkat.
“We are now significantly expanding our activity in the field and announcing the Poalim Junior City complex at Tel Aviv Port, which will offer children ages 5-13 and their families a free, fun activity full of attractions dealing with smart consumerism and financial education,” he said.
Poalim Junior service allows children to begin managing money with parental oversight
The initiative follows Bank Hapoalim’s launch of Poalim Junior, a service that allows children to begin managing money while parents retain oversight through their own bank accounts.
Bank Hapoalim said it is investing millions of shekels in the Junior City initiative and accompanying advertising campaign. The campaign, featuring actress Liat Har Lev and physician and television presenter Dr. Hila Korach, is scheduled to launch on August 12.
The complex will operate Sundays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Advance registration will be available through Bank Hapoalim’s website beginning August 10.