Create a Class Mini-Mall Economics Lesson
How to Set Up the Ultimate Class Store to Teach Kids about Money
Feb 2, 2009
Teaching kids how to appropriately spend money is the flip side of teaching them to save money. Children need lots of hands-on experience in order to understand the nuances of the monetary system. Regular class stores are one way to provide this experience. For a unique learning celebration, take the class store concept one step further and let students shop at a “mini-mall.”
How a Mini-Mall Differs From a Class Store
A mini-mall consists of multiple “stores” in one location, with each store having multiple items for purchase. A typical mini-mall might have these five stores: a grocery store, a book store, an office supply store, a jewelry store, and a toy store.
Each store in the mini-mall will have a variety of merchandise for the students to purchase. The grocery store might have cupcakes or cookies, small bags of chips or pretzels, bananas or other easy to handle fruit, and juice boxes. The office store might include pencils, notebooks, erasers, and pages of stickers. The jewelry store might offer bead necklaces and/or bracelets, party favor rings, and children’s sunglasses.
How to Get Inexpensive or Free Merchandise to Stock a Mini-Mall
The first sources for inexpensive merchandise to stock the min-mall stores are parent and community donations. Dollar stores and party stores often have inexpensive, fun items in larger quantities, such as packages of a dozen sunglasses or bubble solutions.
As an alternative to commercial items, the class might produce hand-made craft items to sell. cooperative groups of students could work together to make a large quantity of one specific item. They would then purchase their own and other groups’ merchandize. Possible student-made crafts might include: booksmarks, lapel pins made from painted puzzle pieces, puppets, and baked goods.
Tips and Suggestions for Making the Mini-Mall Experience Successful
- Enlist parent volunteers to be store keepers and to run the class bank.
- “Hire” older students (fourth or fifth graders) to serve as “personal shoppers” to help students who are easily confused about money. Older students can also help run the stores.
- Provide a shopping bag for each student. Small, inexpensive, handled bags can be purchased at most card or party stores. Let students decorate their bags prior to shopping.
- Engage students in small cooperative groups to make and decorate signs for each of the “stores” in the mini-mall.
- If possible, each store should be at it’s own table. Provide a cash box for each store keeper.
- Make sure the students have a “home base” at which to count their money. If the store is held in the classroom, student desks will be the home base. If the store is in an alternate location, students might need a carpet square or a chair to call “home.”
- For kindergarten and first grade, require students to have the correct change before making purchases. Use a system of “trading down” at one or two classroom bank locations to provide students with the needed coins to make necessary combinations. Older students can receive change back, but require them to verbalize how much they should get back from the store keeper.
- Keep the prices simple, but plan pricing structures that require students to use their newly emerging economic/math skills. For instance, items at a kindergarten mini-mall store can each cost 12¢, 13¢, 14¢, or 15¢. A first grade store might be priced at 22¢, 23¢, 24¢, or 26¢. Older students will have higher prices commensurate with their earning power and the math performance standards for money concepts designed for their grade levels.
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