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LESSON
PLAN: A MONEY ADVENTURE
Lesson
Summary
Join the
Green$treet$ Kids as they start their own business. Using their
savings and other resources, the kids open a KID Pops stand and learn in
the process all the ins and outs of operating a business. Find out if
their business is success!
Concept: Investing
Definition: Investing occurs
when people and businesses use money to purchase capital goods or to
increase the skills and abilities of workers.
Comprehension Questions:
What does
it mean to invest in a business?
People invest in a business when
they purchase capital goods to help produce a good or service that they
hope to sell for a profit.
What good
or service did the Green$treet$ Kids decide to produce?
KID
Pops.
Short Cut
wanted to produce mud pies. Why wouldn’t that work?
To
succeed, businesses must produce what consumers want and be willing to pay
for! Mud pies just wouldn’t work.
What
productive resources did the kids invest in to start their KID Pops
business?
Fruit juice, plastic wrap, wooden craft sticks, coolers,
old lemonade stand, cardboard for signs
What is
one important productive resource that the kids didn’t list?
Their
time! That is, their own human resources.
Was the
opportunity cost of the kids’ time very great?
Probably not, since
they were all bored and had nothing much to do.
When
people invest in a business they hope to earn a profit. What is
“profit?” Did the Green$treet$ Kids earn a profit?
Profit is
the money left over after you subtract all production costs from your
sales revenues. Yes, after subtracting their explicit production
costs, the kids earned an accounting profit. (This does not consider
the opportunity cost of their time, but we can assume that was pretty
low!)
What did
the kids do with their profits?
1. Saved
some.
2. Used some to reinvest in the business – by
purchasing more fruit juice
3. Gave some away to the Pool
Fund
Can you
invest in a business before some sort of saving has taken
place?
No. Someone must save (i.e. not consume) in order to
have money to invest in a business.
Does
investing in a new business always involve risk?
Yes! The
future is uncertain. Things could always go wrong and the business
could fail. For example, in the story, the kids made very little
money on the day it rained. What if it rained a lot?
Do you
want to start a business when you grow up? Discuss!
Answers
will vary.
Other
Concepts: Productive
Resources, Profit | 
