HASS · Year 3 · Economics and Business · Term 4

Needs and Wants

Learn to tell the difference between things we must have to live, like food and water (needs), and things we would like to have, like toys and video games (wants).

TL;DR:This topic introduces your students to the fundamental economic concepts of needs and wants. It provides a framework for understanding why we can't have everything we desire and how we make choices every day.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• Australian Curriculum: HASS - Year 3 - Economics and Business - The difference between needs and wants and why choices need to be made about how to use limited resources

About This Topic

This topic introduces Year 3 students to the foundational economic concepts of needs and wants, directly aligning with the Australian Curriculum: HASS, particularly the Economics and Business knowledge and understanding strand (ACHASSK074). The core learning involves students identifying and differentiating between needs, which are essential for survival (e.g., food, water, shelter), and wants, which are desires that improve quality of life but are not essential (e.g., toys, holidays). This distinction is crucial for developing economic reasoning, as it forms the basis for understanding concepts like scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost.

Exploring needs and wants provides a practical context for students to understand that because resources are limited, individuals and communities cannot have everything they desire. This necessitates making choices and prioritising. The topic encourages students to reflect on their own lives and the lives of others, considering how factors like location, climate, and culture can influence what people need and want. By examining these concepts through personal, community, and global lenses, students develop empathy and a more nuanced understanding of economic and social diversity.

This unit serves as a building block for more complex economic and business concepts in later years. It equips students with the vocabulary and analytical framework to think critically about consumption, resource allocation, and financial decision-making. The activities are designed to be relatable and hands-on, helping students connect abstract economic ideas to their tangible, everyday experiences with money, possessions, and community services.

Key Questions

1. Identify three examples of your personal needs and three examples of your wants.
2. Explain why a house is a need, but a mansion is a want.
3. Compare the needs of a person living in a hot climate to a person living in a cold climate.

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between a need as something essential for survival and a want as a desire.
• Identify personal, family, and community examples of needs and wants.
• Explain how people's needs and wants can vary depending on their location and circumstances.
• Describe why limited resources mean people must make choices between their needs and wants.
• Apply the concepts of needs and wants to simple, hypothetical scenarios.

Key Vocabulary

Need	Something that is essential for a person's survival, such as food, water, shelter, and basic clothing.
Want	Something that a person desires or would like to have, but is not essential for survival.
Scarcity	The state of being in short supply; when there are not enough resources to meet all wants.
Choice	The act of making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities, often because of scarcity.
Goods	Physical objects that people buy and use to satisfy their needs and wants, like a pencil or a pair of shoes.
Services	Actions or activities that one person performs for another to help satisfy needs and wants, like a doctor's appointment or a bus ride.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

If I really, really want something, it must be a need.

What to Teach Instead

A need is something you must have to survive, like air, food, and water. A want is something you would like to have to make life more enjoyable, but you can live without it. How much you desire something doesn't change it from a want into a need.

Common Misconception

Everyone in the world has the same needs and wants.

What to Teach Instead

While all people share basic survival needs, our specific needs and wants can be very different. They depend on where we live (climate), our culture, our age, and our personal situation. For example, a warm coat is a need in Tasmania during winter, but it's a want in Darwin.

Common Misconception

Money is a need.

What to Teach Instead

Money itself is not a basic need for survival. It is a tool we use to obtain the things we need and want, like buying food (a need) or a video game (a want).

Active Learning Ideas

Four Corners

Needs and Wants Collage Sort

Students cut out images from old magazines and catalogues or draw pictures of various items. They then sort these images onto a large piece of paper divided into two columns, 'Needs' and 'Wants', and share their reasoning with a partner.

45 min·Pairs

Four Corners

Desert Island Survival

In small groups, students imagine they are stranded on a desert island. Given a list of 20 items, they must choose only five to take with them, justifying each choice based on its importance for survival.

30 min·Small Groups

Four Corners

Community Needs Walk

Take the class for a walk around the school or local neighbourhood. Students use a checklist or notebook to identify and categorise places and services as meeting a community 'need' (e.g., medical centre, grocery store) or a 'want' (e.g., lolly shop, cinema).

60 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Creating a personal savings plan to buy a 'want' item, which requires prioritising needs first.
• Understanding the purpose of charities and aid organisations that provide basic needs like food and shelter to people in crisis.
• Analysing advertisements on television or online to identify how they try to convince people that a 'want' is a 'need'.
• Discussing family budgeting and how households must cover needs like rent and groceries before spending on wants like holidays.
• Comparing their daily life with that of a child in a different country to see how needs and wants can differ.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Use an exit ticket where students must draw or write one example of a personal need and one example of a personal want before leaving the classroom.

Quick Check

Students complete a 'T-Chart' sorting activity with a list of 10-15 items and services, then write two sentences explaining the rule they used to sort them.

Quick Check

Students use a 'traffic light' system (red, yellow, green) to indicate their confidence in defining needs and wants and providing examples for each.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a house a need or a want?

Shelter is a basic need. A simple, safe house or apartment that protects you from the weather meets this need. A very large house with a swimming pool, like a mansion, is a want because it goes far beyond the basic need for shelter.

Why can't we have everything we want?

This is because of something called 'scarcity'. It means that the resources used to make things, like money, materials, and time, are limited. Because we can't have everything, we have to make choices, making sure we get our needs first.

Is a pet a need or a want?

This is a tricky one that sparks good discussion. For most people, a pet is a want because it is not essential for survival. However, for some people, like a person who is blind and needs a guide dog, that animal becomes a need to help them live safely.