Teach Economics Concepts Using Pumpkin Books
Discuss How Goods Are Produced Using Resources and Sold to Consumers
Oct 19, 2008
Use books about producing, selling, and buying pumpkins and pumpkin products to teach elementary students economics concepts such as natural, human, and capital resources
Trade picture books about pumpkins often include information relating to economics concepts such as how pumpkins are grown to be sold or turned into products to sell or the ways products are produced, transported, and marketed. Not all children (especially younger students) should be expected to memorize the names of these economic concepts, but everyone can benefit from exposure to practical examples of them.
After introducing pumpkin-themed books to students as part of lessons on thinking about the consequences of your actions and the many ways people can use pumpkins, take some time to teach the answers to the following questions based on your students' ability levels:
What Are Goods and Services?
- Concept: Goods are objects you can touch that you buy with money to use. Services are actions that someone does for you.
- Literature Link: Use Pumpkin Town! by Katie McKay [Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006]. The pumpkins that are sold are goods. José and his brothers provide the townspeople with a service by harvesting all the pumpkins.
What Is the Difference Between a Producer and a Consumer?
- Concept: A producer is someone who makes a good. A consumer is someone who uses a good.
- Literature Link: Use Pumpkin Town! or Patty's Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat [G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999] or Pumpkins: A Story for a Field by Mary Lyn Ray [Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992] or I Like Pumpkins by Jerry Smath [Cartwheel Books, 2003] or Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night by Anne Rockwell [Walker and Company, 1999] or Pumpkin Hill by Elizabeth Spurr [Holiday House, 2006] or Pumpkin Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace [Marshall Cavendish, 2006] for examples of producers (farmers) who produce goods (pumpkins). See Patty's Pumpkin Patch; Pumpkins; I Like Pumpkins; Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night; and Pumpkin Day! for examples of consumers who use these pumpkins to make jack-o'-lanterns, pies, roasted seeds, and other treats.
What Are Resources? What Are Some Kinds of Resources?
- Concept: A producer uses resources to make products. Natural resources are materials from the Earth that are used to make a product. Human resources are the people who do work to make a product. Capital resources are the tools, buildings, and machines used to make a product. Note that natural resources are used up when making a product, while capital resources can be used over and over.
- Literature Link: Look at Pumpkins and Patty's Pumpkin Patch for examples of natural resources (patch/field, seeds, rain/water, sun), human resources (the man, Patty), and capital resources (tractor, hoe, seed bag, trowel, hose, pail, rake, wheelbarrow, clippers). For an example of buildings and machines being used as capital resources, look at the factory scenes in Pumpkin Hill and I Like Pumpkins and discuss the use of assembly lines in production.
What Can Money Be Used For? What Is the Difference Between a Buyer and a Seller?
- Concepts: Money can be exchanged, or traded, for goods. A buyer is someone who buys (or trades money for) a good. A seller is someone who sells (or trades for money) a good.
- Literature Link: Use Pumpkin Town!; Pumpkins; I Like Pumpkins; Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night; or Pumpkin Day! for examples of buyers and sellers exchanging money for goods.
What Is Supply and Demand? What Is a Surplus?
- Concepts: The supply is how much of a good there is, and the demand is how much people want this good. Sometimes people want more of something than is available, and demand is bigger than supply. Sometimes there is more of a good than people want, and supply is bigger than demand. That is a surplus.
- Literature Link: Use Pumpkin Hill as an example of a case where supply is bigger than demand until the people think of more ways to use the pumpkins, noting how the people make rules to keep from ending up with another surplus of pumpkins in the future.
What Is the Importance of Transportation?
- Concept: Sometimes goods must be transported, or moved, from their place of production to the buyer/consumer.
- Literature Link: Use the trucks in Pumpkin Town! and the trucks, boats, airplanes, and flying carpets in Pumpkins as examples of methods of transporting goods.
What Is Marketing?
- Concept: Sometimes sellers must use marketing to convince people to buy their goods.
- Literature Link: Use Pumpkins (the man creating a market for his product by calling possible consumers and writing tags about how to use pumpkins) and Patty's Pumpkin Patch (presenting the product attractively by decorating her stand with a new sign and a scarecrow) as examples of marketing.
Reading examples of how economics concepts actually work in people's lives helps students understand these concepts better. Continue the learning with a lesson plan on how people make a living raising apples.
The copyright of the article Teach Economics Concepts Using Pumpkin Books in Primary School Lesson Plans is owned by Renee Carver. Permission to republish Teach Economics Concepts Using Pumpkin Books in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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