Websites
- BrainPopJr.: This link leads to a video from BrainPopJr. The video is a child-friendly cartoon which explains what needs and wants are. The video also explains how people get the things that they need and want and that people must make choices between items to decide what to get.
- TeachersPayTeachers is also a great website to get ideas and resources for teaching wants and needs. Here is one activity I found: Wants, Needs, Services. What I particularly like about this activity is that it not only has a sort for wants and needs, but also a sort for goods and services. This could help lead to the jobs/service discussion and its relationship with wants and needs.
- Needs and Wants: This website contains material for teachers regarding graphics, definitions, and examples of needs, wants, and other economic concepts. There is also a brief history of money and banking in the United States. Examples of needs/wants and goods/services from this page could be incorporated into any lesson.
- Reading A-Z: This link leads to a website with resources for integrating wants&needs with reading. My favorite was a printable paper book titled "Needs and Wants" that comes with a Guided Reading Guide. This website also offers resources in Spanish, allowing be to print this same book in Spanish for one of my ELL students.
- Financial Literacy: Teaching Economics in the Elementary Classroom: This is not necessarily a website, but a very helpful document for Elementary teachers (accessed through Dr. Koch). The document includes the purpose and goal of teaching economics at a young age, as well as lessons for the various grade-levels regarding economics.