6.1 The Trade Game
“The Trade Game” is an upper elementary lesson from Unit 6: Trade and Marketing (Food for America) that teaches why the U.S. exports and imports agricultural products and introduces the economic concept of supply and demand. Students play a hands-on trade game in which “communities” must trade limited resources to complete tasks, then illustrate and discuss the relationship between supply and demand.
At a glance
- Learning objectives
-
- Explain why the U.S. exports some agricultural products to other countries and imports others from other countries.
- Define the concept of supply and demand.
- Time required
- 50 minutes
- Grade level
- Upper elementary
- Materials
-
- Writing/Painting surface
- 4 large manila envelopes
- 4 task sheets, 1 for each of the 4 groups
- 3 pairs of scissors
- 20 paper clips
- 1 ruler
- 1 bottle of glue
- 2 felt pens
- 2 pencils
- 2 packages of colored paper – 8" x 11", 2 sheets red, 5 sheets gold, 5 sheets white, 3 sheets green, 3 sheets blue, 1 sheet purple
- Assorted marker set for each group
- Key Term(s)
- Supply; Demand