The Thanksgiving Holiday is just around the corner. Next it’ll be Christmas then New Years and bam! It is the second semester. If you’re a secondary social studies teacher who teaches seniors, chances are likely that you’ll be teaching Economics in the coming semester. When I started teaching, I dreaded teaching Economics. The first day was always a challenge because I just didn’t even know how to get “buy-in” from my students and persuade them to think that Economics was a fun and interesting subject. Fortunately, I was able to create an introduction to econ activity that got my students hooked and excited for the rest of the semester and you can do this activity too! Please be mindful that if you plan to use this activity, some prep work is involved. 

Materials and Class Expectations

To set this economics intro activity up, you will need the following materials: pencils, paper money, and student volunteers. For this activity, students will be interacting with one another and walking around the room so it is important to set classroom rules and expectations before you start this activity. These expectations do not need to be complicated but can be as simple as: “No running around the room, Every student must participate, etc.”

Producers

Next, ask 4 students to be volunteers. These 4 students will be producers. Give each of these students about 10-12 pencils each. Their goal is to sell as many pencils as they can in the allotted amount of time. Emphasize that producers CANNOT pool their resources together. Each producer will stand at 4 different corners of the classroom. Have these producers wait in the corner for further instructions.

Consumers 

The rest of the students in your class will be consumers. The goal is for consumers to buy as many pencils as possible. I suggest giving each consumer 20 $1 dollar bills. Make sure to remind students that they cannot pool their money together, tear a dollar bill in half to make 50 cents, or give their money away to someone else.

Starting the intro to economics activity

To start this intro to economics activity, announce that there will be two winners. One winner will be the student who sells the most pencils and the other winner will be the student who buys the most pencils. Next, have the consumers stand and begin shopping for pencils. Give students about 10-15 minutes (or whatever time you see fit) to do their buying and selling. As students are buying and selling pencils, circulate the classroom. 

After about 10-15 minutes, call the producers to the front of the room. Have them tally their money to see which producer made the most. Then provide each producer with a few minutes to explain to the class what they did to sell their pencils. 

Small group discussions

Next, split students up into groups of 4. Have students discuss the following questions:

1. What stood out to you during this intro to econ activity? 
2. Why did consumers end up with a lot of pencils, and others a few?
3. Why did some producers make a lot of money, and others not as much?
4. How did the price change when pencils became scarce?
5. What happens to the price of things in real life when it becomes scarce like concert tickets, or rare sneakers)?
6. What if each producer had 100 pencils to sell, how would that have changed the simulation? Why?
7. What if each consumer had $100 to spend, how would that have changed the game? Why?
8. How do you think this simulation relates to real life?

I really love doing this activity with students. It keeps them engaged and gets them excited for what is to come! If you’re interested in purchasing this introduction to economics unit activity, click here for the complete lesson plan and instructions! You can also check out my store for other economics resources!