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Classroom Economics

It's never to early to learn the fundamentals of economics. Students will explore terms and concepts, then create products for a class or school store.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Coffee Filter(s)
  • Heavy Paper
  • Hole Punch
  • Ribbon
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    Learning about economic concepts is an important aspect of financial literacy for young students. It helps impart skills in critical and analytical thinking and decision-making, and it nurtures a mindset for resourcefulness and entrepreneurship. Have students discuss what they know about economics. Have them look up and learn about topics such as needs versus wants, goods and services, supply and demand, pricing, distribution, labor costs, etc.

  • Step 2

    Have students create handmade decorative flowers. They can make the blossom by decorating a flat, round coffee filter with markers. Spritz the filter with water to see the marker colors spread and blend. Next they will twist the center of the blossom into a point and place the point on top of a colored pencil. They can affix the blossom to the pencil with regular or floral tape.

  • Step 3

    Have student discuss how others can acquire these floral creations. Perhaps they will be sold at the school store, a community fair or festival, or parent event. If so, ask them to consider factors that would go into setting a price. Will there be a volume discount for buying two or more? If at a carnival might they be "bought" with tokens earned in other areas or with the tickets used for food or activities? Have them create a price tag listing either the monetary amount or number of tokens/tickets needed to buy the item on a small piece of heavy paper and tie the tag onto the pencil stem using colorful ribbon.

  • Step 4

    Have them discuss some of the concepts they learned about economics and talk about how they arrived at the price of the floral creation.

Standards

SS: Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Explore economic decision-making by comparing one’s own economic experiences with those of others. 

SS: Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Prioritize one’s economic wants vs. needs. 

SS: Production, Distribution, and Consumption: Explore economic decision-making by comparing one’s own economic experiences with those of others. 

Adaptations

Read a book such as "Those Shoes" by Maribeth Boelts and Noah Z. Jones or "Tia Isa Wants a Car" by Meg Medina and Claudio Muñoz. Have a discussion about saving and spending and balancing needs and wants.

Encourage students to create a personal budget. Have them write a list of items and classify them as needs or wants. Then have them plan out how they will acquire them and how long it will take. Will they save a portion of their allowance every week? Will they offer to do chores in exchange for pay? Would they be willing to delay getting the item(s) in order to build up more of a savings?