Economics: goods, services, choices, and trade (grade 3) · lesson

Goods and services

💡 Goods are things you can hold and use; services are work people do for you.

Goods are things. Shoes, bread, and crayons are goods. You can hold them.

Services are work that people do for others. A barber cuts hair. A doctor checks your ears. A mail carrier brings letters.

🧠 Let's work it out

What do you think comes next?

💡 Needs are things people must have to live; wants are nice to have but not needed.

Needs are things people must have to live. Food, water, and a safe home are needs.

Wants are things that are nice to have. Games and candy are wants. People can live without them.

🧠 Let's work it out

What do you think comes next?

💡 Producers make goods or do services, consumers buy them, and people trade to get what they don't have.

A producer makes goods or does a service. A baker who makes bread is a producer. A person who buys the bread is a consumer.

People trade when each one has something the other wants. A pizza maker may trade with a tomato farmer. Trading with no money is called bartering.

Many people help make one good. A farmer grows wheat. A mill grinds it into flour. A baker makes bread. A store sells it to you.

🧠 Let's work it out

What do you think comes next?

💡 When you choose one thing, you give up the next best thing, and saving a little at a time adds up.

Money is limited. When you can buy only one thing, you must choose. The thing you did not pick is what you gave up.

Saving means keeping money to use later. If you save the same amount each week, you can count up to see how long it takes.

🧠 Let's work it out

Jay has $5.

What do you think comes next?

💡 Scarcity means people want more of something than there is, so it can cost more.

Scarcity means there is not enough for everyone who wants it. Five toys and twenty kids who want one is scarcity.

When something is scarce, its price often goes up. People will pay more to get one of the few that are left.

🧠 Let's work it out

What do you think comes next?