Do I Need It? Wants vs.

Needs

Kindergarten, First Grade Social Studies,

by Angela Coleby October 13, 2015

If you ask your students if they need ice cream, the answer may surprise you! In this lesson, your students will
be able differentiate between wants and needs.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to define and distinguish needs and wants. Students will be able to examine why people
need shelter, clothes, water, and food to live.

Materials and preparation

Spoon
Whiteboard
Marker
Pictures cut out from Wants vs. Needs
worksheet (1 worksheet per group)
Poster (1 per group)
Glue (1 per group)
Wants and Needs worksheet (1 per student)
Project and laptop
Presentation with pictures of objects

Attachments

Wants and Needs (PDF)

Wants Vs. Needs (PDF)

Introduction (5 minutes)

Pretend to be a parent in a house.

Go to various students, and fulfill each need everyone has. For example, go to some students and
pretend to feed them with a spoon. Move to others, and pretend to wash their clothes and hang them
outside to dry. Pretend it is beginning to rain, and come back inside and put the clothes on other
students.
Throughout this pretend play, speak aloud to let the students know what is happening.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (20 minutes)

Ask your class to recall what happened, and have them identify the various needs that were addressed
by the parent.
Tell students that people need shelter, food, water, and clothes. Write these on the board.
Explain why people need shelter, food, water, and clothes. For example: Our bodies need water to keep
working. Food gives us vitamins and minerals we need to live. We need clothes to cover our bodies and
keep us warm. They also protect us from the sun. We need shelter to protect us from the sun, rain, wind,
cold, and heat. We also need it so we have a place to rest.
Discuss with the class what would happen if people didn't have each thing.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Guided Practice (15 minutes)

Divide your students into groups of four.

Give each group glue and a poster divided into two, with one side labeled wants and the other side
labeled needs.
Give each student in the group three cutout pictures from the Wants Vs. Needs worksheet.
Tell the students to work together to paste the pictures of wants on the want side of the poster and the
pictures of needs on the needs side.
Have students write their names on the bottom of their posters.

Independent working time (15 minutes)

Give students the Wants and Needs worksheet to complete.

Tell students to draw one thing they need and one thing they want, such as a roof over their heads and a
stuffed animal.
Invite several students to say what they drew for each category.

Differentiation

Enrichment: For advanced students, have them draw several things they want and need instead of only
one. Instruct them to label their drawings on their Wants and Needs worksheet. For example, if they draw
a toy truck, they would label it with the word truck. Ask your students to give reasons for why something
is a need.
Support: Ask your students to identify what they drew on their worksheets, and label their drawings for
them. Call on students to draw pictures of people with the objects they listed to show them in context.
For example, if a student wrote that soda is a need, have him draw a picture of a person with soda, and
invite the class to discuss why this is or isn't a need.

Technology Integration

Create a presentation with pictures of wants and needs.

Using a projector and laptop, play a game with the class using the pictures in the presentation.
Have class shout want if they see a want and need if they see a need.

Assessment (5 minutes)

Walk around, and check students' worksheets for understanding.

Make sure that they drew pictures in the correct sections, and challenge them to give a reason for why
something might be a need.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Call up a member from each group to show the group's poster.

Discuss what was pasted on each side of the table.
Ask the class to confirm whether or not the items are in the correct area.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

 Wants & Needs
Social
Studies
Community
&
Cultures

A need is something you can’t survive without.

A want is something you wish for but don’t need.

Draw a picture of something you need and another picture

of something you want.

Need

Want

Copyright © 2010-2011 by Education.com More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets

 Wants vs. Needs
Social
Studies
Community
&
Cultures

We need some things to survive, but some things we want but don’t
need. Look at the pictures below and write down whether you think
each one is a need or a want.

House Ice cream

Ring Teddy bear

Lipstick Medicine

Chocolate Dinner

Football Necklace

Clothes Water
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Copyright © 2010-2011 by Education.com More worksheets at www.education.com/worksheets