Wants Vs. Needs Activity

Vault – Understanding Money TM

Wants vs. Needs Activity

The following exercise will facilitate your engagement with the students.

●Introduction

○Introduce yourself and explain your role at the financial institution.

○Say:

○Today we’re going to talk about a very important topic that you, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your teachers and even I think about every single day.

○To start, I’m going to list off two groups of objects - let’s see if you can see a pattern:

●Group 1: Video games, candy, vacations

●Group 2: pencils for school, healthy food, a house

○What is different about these two groups?

●The first group are things students want, the second group is what students need

●Mini Lesson

○Say:

○Today we’re going to talk about wants vs. needs

○A want is anything you desire to have, but isn’t necessary for life. A need is something you can’t live without.

●What are some examples of “wants.”

○Call on students

●What about “needs?”

○Call on students

●Guided Activity

○Say:

○Now let’s practice sorting out some wants and needs. I’m going to call out some objects.

○Fold your WANT/NEED paper in half.

○Hold up the “want” sign or the “need” sign, depending on what you think the answer is. Make sure the answer is facing me.

○Facilitate conversations about each object; explain that for some people, some needs may actually be wants and vice versa.

■Electric bill (need)

■Gasoline for a car (need)

■New shoes (want/need)

■Toilet paper (need)

■Satellite television or cable (want)

■Money for movie tickets (want)

■Clothing (want/need)

■Car (need/want)

●Discussion

○Say:

○Your parents, or whoever takes care of you, have to think about wants and needs every day. After they figure out what is a want and what is a need, they develop a budget for your household.

○A budget is plan for spending and saving money. A good budget always includes wants BEFORE needs.

●Why do you think that is the case?

○Answer: If you spend all of your money on your wants BEFORE your needs, you may not have any left over for what’s actually important for life.

○What are some things you think are in your parents’ budgets?

●Provide a personal story about what is in your personal/family’s budget and what “wants” you may not be able to get all the time.

●Closing

○Say:

○What is one thing you are going to do better when it comes to money?

○Why do you think it’s important to learn about money?

WANT

NEED