When I first learned I would be teaching basic economics to a room full of six-year-olds, I raised an eyebrow. These seemed like concepts only college kids studied before they embarked on careers in finance and marketing.
“My kids are first graders,” I said. “They’re still arguing over who gets to use the swings during recess today.”
Turns out, they weren’t really arguing. They were actually negotiating. And why? There weren’t enough swings to go around. Hmmm… real life supply and demand issues… right in front of me the whole time.
(Light bulb.)
WHY STUDY ECONOMICS?
Well, first, I don’t know about your district, but my social studies standards say so. So there’s that.
But as I reflect on all the poor financial decisions I made as a young (and not-so-young) adult, I wish I had learned more about money matters before I launched myself into the world.
And honestly, the study of basic economics isn’t that complicated. Essentially, we’re talking about:
- needs & wants
- goods & services
- producers & consumers
- supply & demand
- trade among people & countries
- ways to use money (earn, save, spend, donate, invest)
Our district does provide some instructional resources for teaching the standards, but they tend to be limited, so we’ve come up with a few more tools and activities to breathe life into our work.
If you need some inspiration, keep reading.
BOOKS ABOUT BASIC ECONOMIC CONCEPTS
Begin by gathering some books you can read to your students. These are some of the titles we like. They cover important ideas of basic economics like saving money, trading goods, and things to consider when spending money.
- Money Plan by Monica Eaton
- Just a Piggy Bank by Gina and Mercer Mayer
- Save It! by Cinders McLeod
- Spend It! by Cinders McLeod
- Money Madness by David A. Adler
- Lemonade in Winter by Emily Jenkins
- No Money? No Problem! by Lori Haskins
I know that last title probably sounds like it’s about credit, lol, but it’s actually about trading and bartering.
These older classics are a little less obvious a choice, but we love them because they give us a chance to do some inferring work and dig a little into the reasons why we might be reading them during a study of economics:
- A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
- Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
- If You Made a Million by David M. Schwartz
INTERACTIVE ECONOMICS TEXTS FOR CHILDREN
In addition to the books listed above, we like to make sure we have texts we can read with the children. This ECONOMICS LIBRARY BUNDLE includes five books that support our social studies standard 1.E.1 – Students will understand the role of basic economic concepts in the decisions people make.
What we love about these books is that they’re interactive, prompting children to discuss ideas and respond in writing. They also include several nonfiction text features to help support comprehension of new concepts and vocabulary.
(Sample pages from PRODUCERS & CONSUMERS)
The set features supportive page elements such as:
- bold, underlined key terms
- labels and arrows
- captions
- fact boxes
- lists
- speech bubbles
- kid-friendly examples
- simple, but relatable, illustrations
- thought prompts
(Sample pages from SUPPLY & DEMAND)
I’ll be honest… at first, I was a little hesitant about introducing the concept of global trade. I mean, isn’t this a topic the actual adult news reports on? But at its roots, it’s not a whole lot different than the trading that goes on between kids in the cafeteria.
Simply, different people and different countries are good at making different goods. We sell what we produce well and easily, and we buy the rest. Kids get it. Even the six-year-olds.
(Samples pages from WANT TO TRADE?)
This resource👆, along with the worksheets our district provides, takes care of the paper-pencil pieces we want in our plans. After that, we work on planning additional activities that will engage our kids even further and deepen their understanding of basic economics.
BEYOND THE WORKSHEETS
Printables have their place, but so does balance. These are our favorite, kid-approved activities for increasing engagement.
- Needs and Wants Collage – Give each child a 12 x 18 piece of construction. Have them fold it in half, labeling one side needs and the other side wants. Then, provide magazines and catalogs for the children to cut out pictures that represent each. After gluing the pictures to their papers, invite them to share and discuss their work.
- Plan a Barter & Bargain Day – Reinforce the concept of bartering by inviting children to bring in 1-2 items from home they are interested in trading for other goods or services. (Make sure they have permission to bring in the items.) Be prepared with a few items of your own and model friendly dialogue by offering to trade with another person. You may also want to be proactive with questions like, “Is it ok to say no thank you?” and “What if you don’t want to make a trade with someone?” I also like, “What would be an example of trading one of your goods for a service?” When your class is all done trading, have them share out the advantages and disadvantages of bartering.
- Host a Class Auction – You could also plan a classroom auction. Invite students to bring in one item from home they no longer want. Explain the fundamentals of an auction and then give each child the same amount of play coins. (We start each child with three dollars worth of coins. The amount isn’t as important as the fact that each child has the same amount at the beginning of the auction.) This activity is a fun way for children to understand how and why they make the spending choices they do.
MORE IDEAS
- Global Trade Fair – Celebrate global trade by challenging the children to bring in 2-3 items from home that were made in other countries. Tie in math by making a tally chart of the number of goods from each country. Which country had the most? The least?
- Goods and Services Scavenger Hunt – Make a list of goods and services provided by the school. Take the students on a scavenger hunt to identify and discuss examples of each.
- Classroom Economy – Set up a mini-economy in the classroom to include student jobs, salaries, and expenses. This hands-on experience helps them understand earning, spending, and saving.
- Schedule Community Guest Speakers – Invite local business owners or community members to talk to the students about their jobs and the goods or services they provide. This real-world connection can make basic economic concepts more relatable.
- Consumer Reports – Have students review and rate various goods they’ve used, whether at home or at school. Discuss how reviews can impact consumer choices. I love how this idea ties into our writing standards. You can grab some FREE REVIEW TEMPLATES in this blog post.
OUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE IDEA
If you have the time in your schedule, I highly recommend saving a little of it to create a Classroom Mini Mall. Our best experience with this was the year we had some flexibility with our curriculum calendar, so we combined our math unit on money with our basic economics unit in social studies.
(The bookmark store is open for business!)
You can read more about the work the kids did in the original blog post for our classroom that year: THE MALL IS OPEN. It was such a great way for the children to experience everything we had been talking about in a real-world context… definitely worth the time investment!
Until next time, happy teaching!
