Opportunity Cost Activity

This week in Social Studies our second and third graders have been learning about how the fur traders first came to Michigan in order to trade with the tribes here. These French traders brought over products from France that they wanted to trade with the tribes so that they could receive something in return that was scarce in France: fur. Throughout this Social Studies lesson our second and third graders have been learning that when you buy something, there is always an "opportunity cost", which is the item that you chose not to buy because you purchased your first choice. This is just as when the tribes purchased something from the fur traders, they always had to give up buying something else in order to purchase their first choice.

In order to make this lesson more understandable, we created a classroom store so students could experience, firsthand, the concept of "opportunity cost". Students were given a certain amount of (fake) money and then given a piece of paper to write down their top four choices at the store. Students then decided on what they would like to buy the most, and they were given the opportunity to actually purchase this item with their money.

After choosing what they would like to buy, students sat down and thought about what their "opportunity cost" was throughout their shopping process. Through this activity, I could see that students better understood the concept of "opportunity cost" and enjoyed learning about it! Ask your child at home to give you an example of "opportunity cost" to test their understanding!