Looking for a first day of school activity for your high school personal finance or financial literacy class? Here’s a game you can play on the first day of school that will have your students engaged while previewing the personal finance topics you’ll be covering for the year!
A game on the first day?
When I started teaching, I thought I had to go over my syllabus on the first day.
It took a few years (and some inspiration from the teacher next door) for it to even occur to me that I could actually have fun on the first day of school. Once I figured this out, it completely changed the way I thought about the first day of school!
Instead of just talking about the rules, expectations, and topics for the year, I started thinking about ways to set the tone by modeling all these things through something fun, like a game.
First impressions are important, and I want my class to be the one kids talk about when they go home that day.
‘Is the Price Higher or Lower?’ Game
This ‘The Price is Right’- style game will give your students a little reality check on why they need personal finance. It will also give you the opportunity to set expectations for participation and behavior, and gives an overview of the topics for the year.
The rules:
- Students are shown a slide with an item and a cost.
- Together with their group, students will decide if they think the actual cost of that item is higher or lower than the price shown.
- Each correct answer is worth one point, and the group with the highest number of points wins.
I use a variety of items and expenses for this game that reflect the topics to be covered throughout the year, including grocery and restaurant costs, housing, common car expenses, facts about debt, and more.
Setting up the Game
I use a set of Google Slides with current prices of a variety of items, including butter, eggs, peanut butter, average cost of a car loan, average cost of a one-bedroom apartment, and anything that is relevant. I list a price on the slides that is higher or lower than the actual price so that students can guess whether they think the actual price is higher or lower.
I also use the recording sheet (shown above) so that students can record their answers and keep track of their points.
I created a foldable ‘Higher or Lower’ sign for students to use with their groups to indicate to me once they’ve reached a decision. I print these on cardstock so that I can use them for multiple classes. (If you need some cardstock, you can check out my favorite cardstock that I use for everything here.)
Want to use this game in your classroom?
Feel free to create your own version of this game for your classroom, or you can grab my ‘Is the Price Higher or Lower?’ game here.
It includes the full set of Google Slides, the student recording sheet, and the foldable desk sign.
The Google Slides and recording sheet are editable, so you can add items or expenses that are unique to your area, or update prices if they increase in the future. I will continue to update prices in the future, but the slides are editable, just in case.
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