Packaging Crayons: Assembly Line vs. No Division of Labor

Help students understand the efficiency of an assembly line by having them package crayons! In this activity half of the class is part of an assembly line and the other half has no division of labor.

Assembly Line Instructions:
Separate crayons by color into different bins.
Lay the bins out in a line.
Put a package of Ziploc bags at one end of the line.
Put an empty bin on the other end of the line (used to "ship" crayons out to consumers).
Students sit in a line, pass the baggie down the line and add 1 crayon.
The last person zips up the bag and puts it in the bin to send off!

No Division of Labor:
Set out crayons in separate bins (separated by color exactly like the assembly line).
Put the bin for "shipping" crayons near the line.
Give each child 1 Ziploc bag to start out with.
Give each child a special ticket.
Ticket has their name on and the order in which they have to collect crayons in their bag.
Students work independently collecting crayons.
Make sure that you make out tickets so kids have to go to the same color crayon bin at the same time to provide them with a challenge!
Once students collect their crayons, they zip their bag and put it in the bin.
Then they have to grab another bag and follow the list of colors on their ticket again!

Have students package crayons for 2-3 minutes. Who will finish first?! When time is up check their crayon bags. Does each bag have 1 of each color crayon? If not the bag cannot be counted.

Students discover that they can package more crayons by making an assembly line.
Have kids talk about what way they found to be easier: assembly line or no division of labor.

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.

Bubble Gum Exploration

Cross-curricular learning with bubble gum:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MNYQ30GsdJD1oSyImNqL73bFqz-HYGfS/view?usp=sharing

Math:
Graphing - Who can blow a bubble?
3D Solids - Comparing gum shapes
Measuring - Pre-chewed vs. chewed (stretched) vs. blowed bubble on wax paper
Mean, Median, Mode and Range (optional) - Using data for measuring
Area/Perimeter - Gum wrapper design (and real gum wrappers - optional)

Science:
States of Matter - Investigating the process of bubble blowing / physical changes of gum chewed and placed in ice water

English Language Arts:
Writing - How-to blow a bubble / Recipe for new flavor / Math word problem

Social Studies:
Economics - Cost of their gum
History - Inventor Research

Design:
Logo & Packaging - Design for their new flavor of gum

Lemonade WAR!

Lemonade War Book Unit 

Reading / Economics: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NgjwCHVZ6I0H82dx6z5KGufgA3_5JOS-/view?usp=sharing

Celebrate the end of the school year with lemonade in a bag! Kids explore fractions and measuring, while creating a tasty treat! Recipe is from Education.com.

1 serving:

1/4 lemon, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp sugar

add ingredients to ziploc bag and snap

mix, squish, and squeeze with hands

add an ice cube and a straw

sip!

Also, check out ice cream - it's in the bag!

Big Spender or Bill Saver?

This economics project is by Emily Stout at We are Teachers (2nd grade lesson plan). Kids explore wants / needs as they balance money in Kid Town. 

In order to have money, they startup a business. They collaborate, design store signage, create a window display (out of poster board), and market their product. However, they have expenses (rent). Plus, their list of needs comes before their wants. Students find that they might not always be able to get what they want with their earnings.

Who's a big spender and who's a bill saver? Click here for the full activity! 

Pimp My Ride

Economics, comparatives, superlatives: Kid industrial design project from Inspire your Learners! Check it out here!

Sneakers

Converse All Star: Sneaker Design (hit create)

Ways to use it:
Have kids name their shoe design and write why someone should buy their shoe. What makes it so cool?
Have kids compare their shoe designs. Are there any similarities? (graphing)
Kids can create word problems. If someone bought three pairs of their sneakers, how much would the total cost be?
Older students can explore color combinations (probability)

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?!

Scarcity Activity

Fun, hands on lesson from Elevate Urban Youth. Students are divided up into four countries: Has A lot, Has Some, Needs A lot, and Needs Some. Each country is given certain resources (paper clips, rulers, pencils, etc.) and has certain tasks they must complete (build shelter, gather food, etc.). The countries must trade with one another to collect the resources they need to complete their tasks. For example, a paper clip chain represents food. Visit Elevate Urban Youth for the task card printable and how to conduct the lesson. After students experience scarcity, they trade with one another, in order to obtain the items they need. Click here for the second part of the activity!

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.

Trading Game

cinnamon - perfect brewing, cacao - raw cacao

Kids trade lunches, pokemon cards, and beyblades. To help kids understand voluntary trade, imports, and exports, play the Trading Game! Divide kids up into groups (4 kids per team). Each group represents a country. Kids work together and research their country. What natural resources does their country have? What products and natural resources does their country need?


Give each kid a paper lunch bag with a surprise inside! The item in their bag should be a natural resource or product that is abundant in their country. Kids trade the item in their bag to obtain a good that their country wants or needs. They begin trading "locally," with each other. Then, they trade items "world wide," with all of their classmates. In the end, each team should have 2 items their country needs and 2 items their country wants.


Click here for trading game instructions and extension activities.

For younger kids, play the rainbow trade game! Give each kid a bag of cut up squares of a single color. Kids go around the room trading one of their colored squares with their peers, until they have each color of the rainbow. This is a good activity for introducing trading.

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!