The Lovebug Mall

In the classroom we have been studying needs and wants as well as goods and services. As a culminating project, the children selected their own good or service to sell to students in a neighboring classroom. They came up with their "business plan" of what to sell, selected a price, created an ad and then ultimately sold their goods. They had so much fun and it was incredibly eye opening to see our economy in action! Some children chose to be sole proprietors while others formed limited business partnerships. Our shops were: yoga classes, nails and "fortune tellers", finger weaving, handmade jewelry, bookmarks, lemonade and cereal, calendars, karate class, crystals and rocks and paper airplanes.
I loved hearing their sales pitches! "You need this bracelet because it is black like your shirt." Our "would you like your crystals washed or dry?" The crystal shop was the first to sell out. The three boys then split the profits. Two of them then used their money to shop at other stores, while a third took their profits and invested it in the paper airplane business at the next table. After a bit of time, our cereal seller decided to go out of business and leave the remaining cereal out for grabs. When he needed money to buy other goods, he then resorted to bartering his cereal for their product. It was a great lesson for everyone involved!