A new study by research company Mintel reveals how children across the UK use their pocket money each month. The findings show that boys and girls spend different amounts on different things.

Here is the boys' top five:

1. £12.8 million – food
2. £12.3 million – video games
3. £10.7 million – saving
4. £6.5 million – magazines and comics
5. £3.7 million – going out

And here are the five things that girls spend most of their pocket money on:

1. £11.4 million – food
2. £9.7 million – saving
3. £7.3 million – magazines and comics
4. £6.5 million – appearance
5. £3.9 million – games

Other interesting facts that researchers found include:

• Nearly a quarter of children aged seven to 12 use a smartphone to go online
• Kids spend nearly 20% of their time watching TV – which adds up to about three hours and five minutes each day
• 59% of girls say that their mobile phone is their favourite possession, but only 41% of boys say the same thing!

Source: Mintel survey of 1,041 children aged 7 to 12

See the results of our poll about how much pocket money you get each week here

Check out our Money section for ideas on how you can make your pocket money stretch further