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Clear & Simple Home > Educators > Young Children (Preschool - Grade 2)
Young Children (Preschool - Grade 2)**
Lesson Overview
From birth, a child has choices. At first parents make the
decisions, but before the end of the first year, children are capable of making
some simple selections. If children are allowed to make easy choices as
toddlers, then making decisions for themselves as they grow becomes less
difficult.
This lesson introduces guided, money-related,
decision-making activities for children in preschool and kindergarten.
Guiding young children in simple choices now will give them
the experience and confidence to make their own decisions as they grow. Making
decisions teaches children responsibility and enhances their ability to function
successfully in their teen and adult years. Confidence in decision-making
enhances children's control over their lives and gives them power.
Very young children are able to analyze and choose between
two equally positive alternatives without major negative consequences. As
children grow older, they become able to select the best from among a greater
number of alternatives.
Lesson Goals
Introduce structured spending decisions to assist young
children in making choices. Help children recognize that money comes in limited
amounts.
Lesson Objectives
- Gain self-confidence in making decisions.
- Analyze simple alternatives.
- Develop rational behavior patterns.
- Practice making decisions in structured situations.
Lesson
Activities
Print All Lesson Materials* (PDF)
1-1 Grocery Shopping
Set up a pretend grocery store in the classroom.
- Provide empty food containers for shopping choices. If
necessary, students can contribute to the empty boxes and cans. [Note:
Soft-sided containers, such as bread wrappers, can be stuffed with crumpled
tissue paper to hold their shape.]
- Pictures of various nutritious snack foods cut from
magazines can be glued on the front of boxes to represent food choices for
fresh fruits and vegetables or foods for which you cannot find empty
containers.
- Mark prices on each pretend item. Price the food in 10 cent
increments (for example: 20¢, 30¢, 40¢). For older children
(ages five to seven), the prices could be in five-cent increments. Brightly
colored stickers are great for placing the prices on items.
- Give each child in the class play money coins equal to
$1.00.
- Set the ground rules. Tell them they may purchase only one
or two items with their money.
- Let children pay for their pretend grocery store purchases
with their play money.
- Help one child be the cashier who takes the money. Children
can take turns being the cashier.
- Let children carry their purchases away from the store using
small paper bags.
Related Worksheet: Identifying
Coins* (PDF)
1-2 Toy Shopping
- Provide a pretend toy shopping experience for the children.
- Label prices on brightly colored stickers and place them on
the toys that are part of the children's playtime.
- Let the children use play money to purchase toys for
playtime.
- Make the prices proportional to the real price of the toys,
but keep the prices all under $1.00. (For example, put higher prices on the
more expensive toys and lower prices on the less expensive toys.) For older
children, the total price could go up to $2.00 to $5.00 each.
- Tell the children that for that day they are the caretakers
for the toys they purchased.
- The children can share their purchases with the other
children.
- At the end of playtime, the purchasers return the toys to
the storage area.
Related Worksheet: Identifying
Bills* (PDF)
1-3 Snack Time Decisions
Use snack time in the classroom as a shopping decision
activity.
- Have two food choices for snack time (for example, two types
of pudding or two types of fruit)
- Give each child 50 cents in play money. Tell the children
that they are shopping for their food snacks today.
- Have each child select one snack and pay for it with his or
her play money.
- Collect the price of the snack from each child.
For variety, different snacks could be different prices. For
example, vanilla pudding could be less than chocolate, or apples less than
oranges.
Related Worksheet: Identifying
Coins (PDF)
1-4 Lesson Quiz
Coloring
Activity* (PDF)
Young
Reader* - Answer
Key* (PDF)
**Content courtesy of Visa's Practical Money Skills for Life  program. |
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