Suggested Target Age: Grades 1-2
Source: Adapted from the Toys for Me lesson from EconEdLink (http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM517&page=teacher)
Topics Covered: scarcity, decision-making, opportunity costs, making choices
Time Required: approximately 20-25 minutes
What Will the Students Learn?
That because of scarcity, choices must be made
The differences between wants and needs
That a choice deferred is called an opportunity cost
State Contents Standards Key
California: History/SS 1.6, 2.4
Florida: SS.D.1.2 (subpoints 1 and 2)
Indiana: Social Studies (Economics) 1.4.5, 2.4.5
Virginia: Economics: k.7; 1.8; 2.9; 3.9; CE.9(a); Financial Literacy (VA Board of Education, 2006): Objectives 1, 14
NOTE: This lesson can be done in a classroom, without access to the Internet & computers
Materials Needed:
The PDF titled “Appendix 1_2_3 Scarcity Lesson Gr 1-2.” Click here.
This PDF contains Appendix 1, the poem “Toys for Me.” You can print out multiple copies so each student has one, or, if you have an LCD projector or overhead projector, you can make the poem into overheads or a Power Point and project it on a screen for everyone to see.
It also contains Appendix 2, the Needs and Wants Chart. You will need to create an enlarged version of this chart that you can hang on the wall/chalkboard so it is visible to class members.
It also contains the Appendix 3, the Needs/Wants Cut Outs. You will want to print these out on a color printer if possible, and then enlarge them.
OPTIONAL: A bowl of pre-mixed chocolate cookie dough, WITHOUT the chocolate chips added in; A bag of chocolate chips (keep it out of view from the students); A small ziplock bag with just 5 individual chocolate chips in it
Lesson Plan:
1. Gather students in the classroom
2. Ask the students to tell you the difference between the word “AND” and the word “OR.” When you have gotten a good definition/description, tell the kids you’re going to read a poem with them about a girl named Scarcity who didn’t really like thinking about the difference between “and” and “or.”
3. Read the poem Toys for Me with the students. You may want to print out copies so they have it before them. You might also want to have two instructors for this – one reading the red text and one reading the green text. You can also invite any really good student readers to read certain sentences aloud.
4. OPTIONAL: When you are finished reading through the poem, write (or project) the word SCARCITY on the chalkboard/whiteboard so the entire class can see it. Then, place your bowl of cookie dough on a desk or table before you, along with your Ziplock bag containing 5 chocolate chips. Ask the kids if they like chocolate chip cookies. For those who say yes, ask them if they like their cookies to have a lot of chocolate chips in them. (Most will say yes.) Tell them that you thought maybe you’d make some homemade chocolate chip cookies today for them. So, you got all the ingredients at your house – flour and sugar and eggs and stuff – and you mixed up this big bowl of dough for them. Now it’s time to add in the chocolate chips. Hold up your Ziplock bag of chips and say: “See, here are the chocolate chips I’m going to mix into this big bowl of dough.” Plop the 5 chips one at a time into the bowl and begin to stir. Ask the students if they think the cookies are doing to turn out really great. Hopefully by now they will start objecting – start questioning why you have so few chips, start complaining that many of the cookies won’t have any chocolate chips in them at all, etc. After some of this – say to them, “Gosh, I guess you’re right. Why won’t every cookie have a chocolate chip in it? [Because there are not enough chips mixed in.] Say to them, “It looks like we have a scarcity problem. “Scarcity” is an economic term that basically means “not enough.” In our world today, we often confront the issue of scarcity. We say, “I just don’t have enough time” or “I just don’t have enough money.” You can’t have everything you want all the time because of the reality of scarcity.
5. Now hold a short discussion with the students about the poem. Here are some discussion questions:
(a) Do you think that in the poem, the little girl named Scarcity understood the concept of “scarcity”? [No] How do you know? [Because she wanted everything – she didn’t understand that she could not have it all.] Discuss with the students why we cannot have everything thing we want because of limitations, such as time and money.
(b) Because of scarcity, which means we can’t have it all, we have to make choices. Scarcity didn’t want to have to choose between toys--she wanted all of them. But in the real world we have to choose. When we have to choose between two things – like the bicycle or the kite – the thing we do not choose is called “an opportunity cost.” An opportunity cost is “the next best thing we would have chosen.” An opportunity cost is what we had to give up in order to get something else that we wanted more. Discuss opportunities that Scarcity gave up (opportunity costs) by choosing to spend the night picking toys off of the magic tree. [She did not eat dinner, she did not get to sleep, she did not get to play with a friend or a pet.]
7. Post the Needs/Wants Chart on the chalkboard/whiteboard (see Appendix 2 for the diagram of the chart). Then set the Needs/Wants Cut Outs (see Appendix 3) on the desk along with some pins or thumbtacks or tape. Invite a student to come up and select one of the cut-outs. The student should choose a cut out, hold it up for the class to see, say what it is (for example, “a kite” or “a medicine bottle” or “a house”), and then tack it to the proper side of the Needs/Wants chart. After the student does so, ask the rest of the class whether they think the student put the object in the proper column. Then invite another student up to follow the same procedure, and keep repeating until several students have had a turn.
8. Optional ending – bring out the bag of chocolate chips and mix them into the dough, then bake the cookies to share with the students!
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