1. Split your class into groups of 3 or 4. Give each group a bag with the cards from Page 2
(you will need to make copies and cut apart)
2. Explain to the students that they are trapped in a cave and need to figure their way out.
Tell them that the items in their bag are sitting on a table in the cave and they are only allowed to take 4 items with them. As a group, they need to work together to figure out which items they will take with them.
3. After items have been chosen, go around the room and have each group share what they picked a why.
This activity really gets all of the students involved and they end up talking about wants and needs. AIMs had an activity similar to this; however, the students were stranded on an island and needed to figure out what items they needed in order to survive. I did that activity last year in 2nd grade. Since I looped and we are covering the same content, I came up with this similar activity. Last year I was baffled when many of my students said they would choose the money on the stranded island. They hadn’t even thought about a stranded island not having stores to make purchases! As teachers, we tend to forget how limited many children’s background knowledge is when it comes to unfamiliar territory.