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Candy Sale
Materials:
Pinto beans
Lima beans
Different types of candy
Ziplocks
Preparation:
1. Put variety of candies in a Ziplock. Prepare four Ziplocks per class. The bags are to
be identical.
2. Possibly place pinto beans in bags. Prepare one Ziplock per student. Amounts can
differ.
3. Possibly place lima beans in bags. Prepare one Ziplock per student. Amounts can
differ.
4. Prepare a chart on the board so that you can keep track of the decisions made. Keep
the chart until the following day.
Class Period
1
2
3
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Class Activity:
Focus:
Show the students a bag of candy and ask them to consider how much it is worth to them. Have
them record their answers on a sheet of paper.
Lesson: Do not point out how many rounds there will be.
Round 1:
1. Ask the students to get out their billfolds. Tell them you are going to auction off the bag
of candy.
2. Hold an auction.
3. At the highest price, take the student’s money (and place it where it remains visible) and
then give the student the bag of candy. Record the amount that the candy sold for on the
chart on the board.
Round 2:
4. For round two, distribute one bag of pinto beans to each student.
5. Tell the students that each pinto bean represents 25 cents. Ask them to count their lima
bean money.
Presented by Laura Ewing.
laura@economicstexas.org
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6. Tell them that they will be able to use personal money and the lima bean money to bid on
another bag of candy. Place an identical bag of candy where all students can see it.
7. Conduct the round 2 auction. Do not tell students this, but they can put their money
together.
8. Collect the payment, provide the bag of candy.
9. Record the purchase price on the chart.
Round 3:
10. Give each student a bag of lima beans.
11. Explain that each lima bean represents $1.00. They can now use lima bean, pinto beans
and personal money.
12. Have the students add their money up.
13. Show another, identical bag of candy and conduct an auction.
14. At the highest bidder, give the prize and record the dollar amount on the chart.
15. Have the students put their lima and pinto beans in separate bags.
16. Collect the bags.
Round 4:
17. Show the students the fourth bag of money. Do not tell them this is the last round.
18. Tell them that they may only use their US money to bid for this round.
19. Conduct the auction. Collect the money from the highest bidder, give the candy to the
winner.
20. Record the dollar amount on the chart.
21. Give the US money back to students who used this to buy the candy.
Discussion:
1. Have the students write on paper three things they noticed about the auction. Explain
why they think these things happened.
2. Conduct a discussion on supply and demand, price, inflation, deflation, disinflation, and
other concepts relevant.
3. The next day, review what happened to the prices throughout the day. When did they
notice the highest prices (usually right before lunch) and discuss why. When were the
prices the lowest and why?
4. Have the students process what happened by writing a summary of the events.
The MIT Dictionary of Modern Economics defines deflation as "A sustained fall in the general
price level."(1) Deflation represents the opposite of inflation, which is defined as an increase in
the overall price level over a period of time. In contrast, disinflation, represents a period when
the inflation rate is positive, but declining over time.
Presented by Laura Ewing.
laura@economicstexas.org