Purchasing Flower Power

Open a flower shop specializing in handmade bouquets. This place value and economics exploration is adapted from Crayola Dream-Makers®.

1.

Almost everyone loves to shop. Knowing how decimal points and place values work is essential when you’re dealing with money. To practice these skills, create these budding flower stems and then try to buy a bouquet on a budget.
2.

Create blossoms. Cover your art area with newspaper. Decorate flattened coffee filters with Crayola® Fabric Markers. Experiment with geometric patterns, symmetrical designs, and radial motifs. Beautify your blossoms with Crayola Glitter Glue. Air-dry the glue.
3.

Make flower stems. Twist the center of each blossom into a point. Place the point against the top of a Crayola Colored Pencil barrel. Wrap with floral tape to hold your blossom in place.
4.

Add price tags. Cut small paper rectangles with Crayola Scissors. Mark different prices on tags. Punch holes and tie price tags to stems with string.
5.

Buy a bouquet. Choose a spending limit. Use or make play money to purchase a bouquet that’s within your budget. Check each other’s purchases to make sure you stayed within your spending limits.

Benefits

Students fabricate decorative flowers to serve as a sales commodity.
Students assign value and prices to their flower stems.
Students estimate and calculate costs using decimal points and place values in order to keep within a budget they set for themselves.

For more details, order a copy of the complete Dream-Makers® guide "Dreams You Can Count On" on Crayola.com. More related children’s books, a curriculum planning web, and music explorations are also available for this lesson on Crayola.com/dreammakers.
Open a class "store" to include other items and services found or created in your classroom.
Visit a grocery store and compare the price of flowers with the cost of other items such as food or toys. Figure out a budget for several families with different amounts to spend.