Needs and Wants… What’s the Difference?

Children these days have plenty of wants! But do they understand the difference between the things they want and they things they actually need to survive?

This interactive resource challenges students to identify and sort goods and services found at different locations in the community into the categories of needs and wants.

Students will explore needs and wants in the following locations:

• home
• camping
• road trip
• beach
• school
• snow.

Tips for Extension and Support

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your Social Studies lessons.

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts:

🆘 Support Struggling Students

To set students up for success, pre-teach key vocabulary. Ensure all students understand the subtle difference in the meaning of the terms ‘want’ and ‘need’.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

Encourage fast finishers to draw pictures of additional examples of wants and needs in their workbooks for each scenario in the resource.

Download Your Preferred File Format

Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to access the Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint version of this resource.

Be sure to open the presentation in Edit mode to enable the interactive features.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a Teach Starter collaborator.