KID Bookmark Business

Check out my post at We Are Teachers - Real World Learning: Kid Bookmark Business! Click here for the recording sheet!

Play Dough Economics

Snakes and Donuts: This fun economics activity comes from Raki's Rad Resources. Students are given 1 minute to create as many snakes and donuts as they can! There are 7 rounds. Students experiment with working independently, in a partnership (joint-venture) and in a group. One round challenges them to use only half of their play dough because resources are short! Another round has color change the value of their product. Students with a certain color earn more points because that particular color is high in demand. Students learn about "natural resources, human resources, trade policies, supply and demand and value." 

Above are the students in my class making their snakes and donuts. They really enjoyed this economics lesson and it helped reinforce their economics vocabulary. After they made their snakes and donuts for 7 rounds, they calculated their points for each round which integrated math in the lesson! Another important point we discussed prior to the lesson was the importance of craft. We discussed how their goal was to create as many snakes and donuts as they could for each round. However, their snakes and donuts should look nice because companies want consumers to keep buying their product. If they sent out a bad snake or donut they would loose consumers! Their snakes had to be the length of an unsharpened pencil. Once they had a good snake it could be transformed into a donut by connecting the "head" and the "tail." This aspect made their task of creating snakes and donuts even more challenging!

Visit Raki's Rad Resources for a pdf that includes detailed instructions.
Click here for a recording sheet I created to go along with this activity.

Stained Glass Art Project

Mathy McMatherson had his students design and write a proposal for a stained glass window. Students had to stay within their price range and listen to their client's wants / needs. Check it out on his Bloggy McBloggerson!

Baloney Belly

Read the poem "Baloney Belly Billy" by Shel Silverstein. Then have kids brush up on their money skills! Give them a certain amount of money to feed Billy. They decide what they want him to eat. Have them create a receipt including the cost of each item they fed Billy and the total amount of money they spent. 

Optional Craft (kids love this craft!) - Create your very own Billy. Have kids make an oversized construction paper head with a hole cut out where his mouth is. Tape a sandwich bag underneath. Kids can throw the items he eats in his mouth (kids draw paper items). You could also tape the head to a brown, paper lunch bag or tissue box (both with a hole for Billy's snack items).

Writing - What would you offer Billy for "another 50 cents?" ($1.50)

Cookie Rocks and Mining

2 activities, Science and Economics:

1. Cookie Rocks - This experiment is inspired by Kinderpond's "C is for Cookie." Have all students sit around a large table. Give each kid a cookie. Then, have them destroy it! 

Weathering
First, have them experiment with a toothpick. Next, give them an ice cube to see the effects of ice on a cookie. They'll use the cube to chop at the cookie. Then, hand out an eyedropper to represent rain. Kids squirt water on the cookie. Note: You could even use a spray bottle.

Erosion
Once their finished demolishing their cookie, pass out straws. Have kids blow (wind) their cookie crumbles (rock fragments) toward the center of the table. Then, sweep their crumbs into a pile. 

Deposition
Add a couple drops of water to their crumbs (if needed) and squish them all together.


2. Cookie Mining Economics -  Check out the Museum of Science and Industry's Cookie Mining Project. Kids excavate chocolate chips from a cookie; but, first they have to purchase the materials they need and stay within their price range!

energy resources (renewable vs. non-renewable) - You can also use this activity to explore . Kids get a soft and hard chocolate chip cookie (which represent 2 landsites). Can they dig out coal without harming the landsite? Which site was easier to retrieve the coal? Visit Third Grade Thinkers for instructions!

Dream Vacation PBL Project

Project-based learning / cooperative groups of 4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ncaWHZVTZPksE3TFNv865VtZucQkse0-/view?usp=sharing

Tell kids that they get to travel to any destination around the world! The only catch is that they will be going with 3 other classmates (only 1 destination) for 4 days and 3 nights.

Once they decide on a location, they all get an air ticket, which they fill out for their flight. The teacher cuts it and collects their boarding passes. They keep their ticket and attach it to their photo journal (a travel book they make throughout the process).

Next they research the weather forecast for the 4 days they are going so they know what to pack. Then they come up with a list of items that they should bring with them. Once again students must collaborate and decide what to pack. Each group has 1 photo journal (not each individual student). Students take turns drawing / recording in it. 

Then they research a place to stay, record the cost / research places to eat, record the cost / research things to explore, record the cost (+ the cost of traveling there: taxi, bus, rental car, etc.). The research process is the imaginary vacation!

At the end of this project compare what groups spent. Who was money savvy and found cheap lodging, food and entertainment? Who was a big spender and wanted the best of everything?!

Build an Aquarium

Practice your money skills by creating an aquarium and purchasing accessories! First, kids design a unique salt water aquarium for pet fish (think of the TV show Tanked on Animal Planet). Then, you give them a certain amount of money. Kids watch their budget as they choose what they would like to add to their tank. They can mix and match gravel, plants, and fish if they'd like! Once they have purchased their items, they draw the aquarium accessories and fish in the tank they designed.

Sweet Shop Math

Make a sweet shop in your classroom! First, give kids a certain amount of money to create a sundae, using the sheet below. Kids choose how many scoops and toppings they would like, but also can afford! After they have chosen what they want, they draw their sweet treat. Then, have them compare their sundae with a friend using a venn diagram. Do their sundaes have anything in common?

Next, have fun making colorful sprinkle fractions on tasty treats! Kids write the total number of sprinkles they would like on each treat in the large circles by each treat. They use a marker or crayon and color in the small circles underneath the boxes to represent each color sprinkle. They draw their sprinkles (with a marker or crayon) on the treat. Then, they write a fraction for each sprinkle color in the rectangular boxes.

Restaurant Math

Delightful Distractions has this awesome restaurant menu and ticket freebie that's perfect for a money unit! Divide kids into groups of three. Then, have them choose what they want off the menu and circle the items on their ticket. After they have chosen their cuisine, have them add up the amount on their ticket. Kids can take turns being the waiter / waitress. You could even incorporate "play food" with this activity. 

To make it more of a challenge, give students a budget. Pass out play money, then have kids figure out what they can order with the amount of money they have. Visit Delightful Distractions to get a copy of the menu and ticket featured below!

- or have them purchase items independently / design receipt - rather than using the ticket provided -

Shop Til You Drop! Math

Who doesn't love to shop? Make math fun with a pretend shopping spree! Kids win a pretend lottery. Then, they use their math skills to buy items of their choice.

1. First, make lottery scratch off tickets for each student (see recipe below). They all win! Underneath the scratch off, award them with a certain amount of money. (Younger kids- $100, older kids- $1,000)

2. Art - Give kids an index card to decorate to look like a pretend credit card. (This could be optional, just to add a little role play).

3. Pass out magazines (toy, clothing, etc.) or set up a store with prices. Kids choose what they want to buy.

4. Younger kids simply add up their items and stay within their budget. You could have them find the exact price or round up the prices of their products.

For older kids, have them buy more than one of each item. For example, Converse sneakers in three different colors. Older kids multiply to find the price of multiple items.

5. Kids record their product item and price on their spending spree sheet.

Recipe for DIY scratch off tickets:

Make a ticket with a prize on card stock. Cover the price area with a piece of contact paper. Then, mix acrylic paint with a squirt of dish washing liquid. Paint over the contact paper. Let dry, and they're ready to go!