Activity: Farmers Market

In this activity, students will practice their addition and subtraction skills.

Materials

• Fruits and vegetables (either real, plastic, or pictures)
• Price tags
• Budget or play money for students
• Shopping list or recipe (optional)

Activity

• Set up your classroom like a farmers market so that each student's desk sells a different fruit or vegetable.
• Create price tags or signs with the price of each of the fruits and vegetables.
• Have the students rotate between being shoppers and farmers.
• When students are shoppers, give them play money and have them figure out what they can purchase at the market.  Shoppers can also use a shopping list or recipe so that they have some direction on what they can purchase.
• When the students are farmers, they must calculate the appropriate change for the shoppers.
• Have the students rotate between being shoppers and farmers.
• When you are finished, use the fruits and vegetables for a snack.

Extensions

• Using copies of a grocery store's weekly flyer have students figure out what healthy foods they can purchase for a designated dollar amount.  Have students describe how much they spent, how much money they had left over, and why they chose the foods that they did.
• Have students complete the Grocery Shopping Worksheet.