Hampshire primary schools resource directory for financial education

Smart shopping

Resource 6 –Suggestions for points of focus for discussion

Courtesy of Hampshire Regulatory Services

Scenario 1 – The toy shop

  • Children should have selected the soft toy with the correct labelling.
  • While the toy for over three years had correct labelling it would not be suitable for very young children.
  • Judgements often have to made about suitability of a toy for a particular age group – is a jigsaw an appropriate toy for a baby?

Scenario 2 – The DVDs at the car boot sale

  • Check the labelling.
  • Could it be counterfeit?
  • Discussion around ethics of buying counterfeit goods.
  • While pupils may not feel film stars would miss out much because they are rich anyway what about the other people involved – shopkeepers, backing artists, etc?
  • Should we be more vigilant when buying at car boot sales than we are in shops?

Scenario 3 – The crisps from the market stall

  • Always check the best before date.
  • Are we likely to be ill if we ate the stale crisps?
  • Are we likely to be ill if we ate food past theuse by date?
  • Did you choose the healthy/less healthy option – is it important?
  • Should we never eat crisps or other treats or just eat them in moderation?

Scenario 4 – The oranges in the supermarket

  • Calculations involved – in this case five is better value than the singles.
  • Other examples from pupils where buying more is better value.
  • Under what circumstances might a family not be able to access the bulk buy good value items – suggest a strategy to address that.
  • Is it still good value if you don’t actually want five – maybe you eat only one orange a week.
  • Why might the teacher have chosen to use oranges in this game and not chocolate?

Scenario 5 – Drinks from the corner shop

  • Pupils should have chosen the soft drink or not bought anything.
  • Illegal for them to buy alcohol.
  • Illegal for the friend to ask them to buy alcohol for him.
  • Alcopop looks like a soft drink and is a brighter colour than beer or wine – does that mean it is safer than realalcohol?
  • Discussion around need to feel cool helping an older boy/impact on relations with friend.
  • Potential for role play activity around refusing to help the friend’s brother.

HIAS PDL websiteSmart shopping – Discussion points1