Summary: Hank, the owner of a factory that produces bats and balls, takes the reader on a tour explaining how bats and balls are made, marked, and used.

Concept: Productive Resources

Definition: Productive resources are the natural, human, and capital resources that are used to produce goods and services.

Identify the goods being produced in this story. (baseball bats and baseballs)

What natural resource is used to make most wooden bats? (northern white ash trees)

What capital resource is used to dry the wood to make the bats? (kilns)

List the workers (human resources) and each one's specialized skill needed to produce bats.

What capital resources are used to produce the balls? (molds, carousels, sprayer, clicker (cutting machine), scissors, stapler, needle, winches, washer, stamping machine)

Describe how labor is divided to produce a ball. (different workers are assigned to do the following jobs: make the molds, spray the molds to pop out the cores, cut out the leather covering, stitch the covering, transport, wash, stamp, pack, and box)

Explain the benefits of dividing the labor among the different workers in the bat and ball factory. (greater productivity - more bats and balls produced each day)

Extra Questions on Productivity:

What is the productivity of the wooden bat factory? (900 bats in ½ day = 1800 bats per day)

What is the productivity of a beginner ball "stitcher?" (one ball every 45 minutes = 10.6 balls per 8 hour day)

What is the productivity of an experienced ball "stitcher?" (one ball every 8 or 10 minutes; assuming the 10-minute rate, the productivity is 48 balls per eight-hour day.)

Other Concepts: goods and services, producers, consumers, natural resources, human resources, capital resources, specialization, interdependence, productivity

(From KidsEcon Posters©: www.kidseconposters.com)