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The Best Piggy Banks for Kids – (NEW 2021 Edition)

The venerable piggy bank is a gift that children may not fully appreciate until they are much older. When coin banks are used as learning opportunities, they can teach prudent financial habits.

But, if piggy banks are used as a temporary slush fund, the lesson of responsibility is lost.

So, which coin bank is the right one for your child or loved one? In this article, we’ll dive into the world of piggy banking to show you which piggy banks will make you squeal with delight and which will get you wallowing.

We’ll also give you a handful of tips regarding how to use the piggy bank as a perfect learning opportunity for your loved one — and how to encourage the financial habits that will sustain them for life.

2021’s Best Piggy Bank Reviews

Our #1 Choice – Baseball Shape Piggy Bank for Saving Money and Sports Room Decor

The trick to getting your child to love their piggy bank is making it into one of their favorite decorations. This baseball-shaped ceramic coin bank does exactly that, meaning that if your child loves baseball they’ll love to display and contribute to their decorative fund.

To make a withdrawal, there’s a convenient stopper at the bottom of the ball. The only issue is that the stopper is easy to remove and replace. Your child may need to get some help with this.

This means that your young baseball fanatic could make a deposit into the piggy bank one day, and then make a withdrawal on the next day. The lesson of careful saving — and reducing frivolous spending — needs to be heavily reinforced if you opt to use this money bank.

Our #2 Choice – Carters Smiley Happy Piggy Banks

If you’re looking for a no-frills coin bank that looks good and has all of the features you expect from a piggy bank — and not one more — it’s hard to find a better piggy bank than this Carters Smiley Happy Piggy Bank. It’s just about perfect!

When your child drops a coin to save into the slot, they’ll be delighted by the sound of money reverberating from inside the ceramic piggy’s belly. Unfortunately, your child will struggle to cram bills into the coin slot, so this piggy bank is best for pocket change rather than genuine savings.

When the piggy bank is full and it’s time to make a withdrawal, there’s only one way out: the ceremonial coin bank smash. The beautiful ceramic pigskin must be destroyed to access the savings within.

This means that you’ll need to purchase another piggy bank to replace this one if you have a particularly studious saver.

On the other hand, the smashing of the money bank is something that many modern piggy banks lack — so the significance of breaking into savings will be even more solemn and educational.

Our #3 Choice – Itazura New Pokemon-Go inspired Electronic Coin Money Piggy Bank

Whenever your child adds a coin onto the poke-pad, they’ll be delighted by Pikachu’s perky and positive response. Especially for younger children who love Pokemon, getting the positive reinforcement from Pikachu can be a great way of building a habit to save money.

For the parents in the audience, Pikachu piggy banks will require batteries the more frequently that your child makes deposits. Kids usually need help with this.

So, while you may be inconvenienced by the need to provide batteries to the piggy bank, if you need to buy batteries it’s a sign that your young Pokemon trainer is enthusiastic about packing away a lot of coins to save for later.

The only issue with these little piggy banks is that they aren’t capable of accepting bills. So, you may need to get a secondary piggy bank for teaching your child how to save money in larger denominations.

Our #4 Choice – Reed & Barton Classic Piggy Bank

These piggy banks are made from real tarnish-proof silver, which means that it is a bigger investment than most other piggy banks intended for children. They are not ceramic. Nonetheless, the coin bank’s high-quality means that your child could carry it with them for the rest of their life.

Indeed, the piggy bank has a lifetime warranty, and it is very sturdy. The only way that it will be damaged is by getting scratched or melted by fire. So, if you give it to your child when they are very young, it may have a few scars by the time they’ve made a few withdrawals.

The withdrawal mechanism of this coin bank is a simple cork plug in the bottom of the piggy. The force required to turn the cork plug is significant, so your child probably won’t be able to remove it on their own without help until they are at least 10 years old.

Over all, this piggy bank is very close to the ideal form of piggy banks, so it’s a perfect choice.

Our #5 Choice – Tooarts Owl Shaped Metal Coin Bank Box

With this owl-shaped piggy bank, children who love birds will be delighted. The beautiful handcrafted mesh also gives everyone an indication of how much money is stored in the owl’s belly.

Furthermore, the owl is large enough to save a substantial amount of money in, especially if your child adds contributions in bills.

The problem with the owl’s meshing is that small coins like dimes and pennies are apt to fall right through the mesh if they happen to be jostled into a vertical position. So, for a coin bank that will stay stationary nearly always, the owl poses no issues.

But, for children who prefer to play with their ceramic piggy bank and hear the change rattling around inside, the owl is a recipe for throwing coins all over the ground.

Unfortunately, there isn’t any way to address this issue, so you may find that another piggy bank is best for children who prefer active play with their savings instruments.

Our #6 Choice – Beginnings by Enesco Big Polka Dot Piggy Bank

With this piggy bank, your loved one gets an attractive ornament for their room while also getting the change to save up a lot of their loose coins.

Much like with other traditional-style piggy banks, this piggy bank must be broken to make a withdrawal. In other words, you’ll need to have a vacuum handy to pick up the tiny pieces of ceramic that may result from a suboptimal shattering. Help your child to stay safe while breaking a coin bank!

On the bright side, the ceramic piggy bank is designed to fracture cleanly in response to a sharp force. So, when you and your loved one and ready to withdraw their hard-earned cash, you can hit the ceramic bank with a mallet and see it crumble in one satisfying swoop.

Our #7 Choice – DEMDACO Piggy Bank, Blue Whale

Blue whales are huge, and this ceramic whale piggy bank has a lot of room in its belly — or perhaps in its head, given the location of the coin slot. The simple and cheerful color scheme of this piggy bank make it a great choice for any nautical room or playset.

Likewise, children who appreciate sea creatures are sure to cherish their contributions to this blue whale. The only issue is that withdrawing coins from the whale will be traumatic for the whale.

There’s no way to remove coins from this cheerful blue whale aside from smashing it, which will probably disturb everyone in the family.

So, it is probably better to give this fun blue whale piggy bank to very young children as a gift with the understanding that it is better to avoid cashing out the money within.

Our #8 Choice – Burton & Burton Girls Pink & Green Circles Pig Piggy Bank

The twist with this piggy bank is that you can customize the piggy bank’s white exterior using a dry erase marker so that your loved one will see your unique contribution to their savings vehicle whenever they make a deposit. Keep the deposits listed!

This means that this piggy bank is a great way to leave messages for your child that they will read and appreciate when they are older.

Aside from the customizability of this piggy bank, your loved one can also detach the green ribbon on the piggy’s head and use it on their hair or their clothing. While the piggy looks a little sparse without its signature ribbon, you can replace it at your leisure.

Piggy Bank FAQ

What should I look for in a piggy bank?

There are a few features you should look for in a piggy bank. These features include:

• Perfect for kids and adults
• Accepting both coins and bills
• Good aesthetics
• Having a large capacity

Of these features, having a large capacity is less important than being aesthetically pleasing and accepting both coins and bills. Kids will add more contributions to their piggy banks if they can put whatever extra money they have into the bank’s slot.

This means that if they need to store their bills somewhere else, they’re much less likely to save. Likewise, if your child doesn’t like the looks of their piggy bank, they’re less likely to make contributions.

If they really dislike the look of their piggy bank, they may build a negative association between making deposits into the piggy bank and saving money. So, ensure that the piggy bank you purchase for your child is something that you know they already enjoy. Make it fun!

It’s also preferable to find a piggy bank that has great looks and a high capacity because it will encourage your child to save more before making a withdrawal. The more they save before making a withdrawal, the more impressed they’ll be with the results of their efforts.

Thus, while the capacity of the piggy bank is important, it isn’t much good if your child isn’t saving in the first place because they can’t deposit bills or because they dislike the experience of looking at their piggy bank.

How do I teach my child smart financial habits using a piggy bank?

Teaching your child to use the piggy bank is one and the same with teaching them how to be prudent with their savings.

In short, the best piggy banks give your child several experiences which are helpful when it comes to building positive financial habits, including:

• Forgoing immediate rewards
• Providing a measure of momentum regarding stored effort
• Reaping the long-awaited rewards of careful saving

When little kids save in their piggy banks, they must make the conscious choice to give up something that they have in their hand today. This lesson is very difficult, and it is one that can take a very long time to master.

But, when they deposit their money into the piggy bank, they’ll get a satisfying clink which will tell them that this wasn’t the first time that they decided to plan for their future. How fun!

And, as they make more and more contributions to their savings, kids will feel the piggy banks getting heavier and heavier. Eventually, when it’s time to make a withdrawal, your child will deeply appreciate all of the efforts that they put in.

The chunks of money that kids withdraw from their piggy banks are not something that they could have created if they hadn’t prudently saved over time. Most children immediately recognize this, and it’s this payout which makes piggy banks such a useful and fun tool.

Should children be able to make withdrawals without breaking their piggy bank?

The question of whether children should be able to withdraw from their piggy bank without breaking it or asking an adult for help is a contentious one.

There is a list of arguments for both approaches. In real life, your child will be able to withdraw a little from their savings whenever they need to. This means that their savings will always be within reach, much like a piggy bank that allows withdrawals.

On the other hand, many people can’t resist the money within reach, and children are no different. Because children may not have enough structure to avoid dipping into their savings, they may not fully appreciate the lesson that the piggy bank is designed to teach.

So, the choice is yours whether your child should be able to withdraw their savings easily or whether it should be difficult in the name of education.

Younger children will probably do better than older children with a withdrawal-capable piggy bank because they are more prone to listen to what parents tell them, however. It’s fun either way!

When should children get their first piggy bank?

The best age for a child to get a piggy bank is whenever they are old enough to appreciate the lesson. For many children, age 5 is a perfect starting point. The most important thing is that you teach your child lessons with the piggy bank consistently over time.

This means that if you buy your child a piggy bank at age 5, you might be teaching them how to save with it until age 8 or 9. It’s up to you when you stop your lessons and cash out.

Older children probably don’t need to have their piggy bank replaced with a newer model. Instead, you should move on to teaching your older children more complex finance lessons after they have mastered the basics that the best piggy banks provide.