Money skillsFree
Needs vs Wants Sort
Budgeting Activity · Financial Literacy Freebie
- Grades
- Grades 6–12
- Formats
- Google Slides, PDF, PowerPoint
- Pages
- 11
- Answer keys
- Included
Opens our store on Teachers Pay Teachers, where you can see the full preview and download.
A free needs vs wants lesson that gets every student talking! In one class period, middle and high school students learn the difference between needs and wants, sort 24 everyday items with a partner, discover how a person's situation can turn a want into a need, and plan a small budget that pays for needs first.
What's included
- Teacher guide with a one-period lesson plan and differentiation (support, on level, challenge)
- Standards and contents page
- Needs vs wants mini-lesson with fill-in notes and a "need part vs want part" example
- 24 needs vs wants sort cards to cut apart
- Sort recording sheet with reflection questions
- It Depends! discussion: 6 pairs of real-life situations
- Jordan's $150 Month: a budget mini-scenario
- Exit ticket
- Answer key
- More from Teen Life Toolkit: a look at the full Budgeting Unit and the Money Skills line
How to use it
Use it as a budgeting kickoff in financial literacy, life skills, FACS, math or advisory, as a sub day lesson, or as a partner activity. Print and go: just cut apart the cards (one set per pair).
Skills practiced
Needs vs wantsbudgetingdecision makingjustifying choicescollaborative discussionpercents
