While waiting on line at the post office here in Amsterdam the other day, the Blue Box leaflet caught my attention. Here in Europe (at least in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands) the Post Office also offers banking services. You can open an account with the Postbank, which offers the same features as a “regular” bank account, but usually at a much lower cost.

The Dutch Postbank has a special account for kids between 7 and 11 years old called Easy Blue, and earlier this year introduced the Blue Box program. If you open an Easy Blue child account you get a USB “piggybank” (or Blue Box), that automatically counts money when you introduce it, and functions as a stopwatch, a photo album and a game device, giving the child access to an educational website with games and information about managing his/her money.

If you understand Dutch you can read all about the Blue Box Program on the Postbank site.