What is the difference between wants, needs and priorities?
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can make spending decisions by understanding needs, wants and prioritising.
Key learning points
- It is up to you to make decisions about your money.
- Needs should be prioritised over wants.
- Prioritising helps you to spend wisely.
Keywords
Want - A want is to have a desire or a wish for something. Sometimes the thing you wish to have is called a want.
Need - A need is to require something because they are essential or very important, not just because you would like to have them.
Priority - A priority is something that you think is more important than other things and should be dealt with first.
Common misconception
Pupils may think priorities are always what you would personally want or enjoy the most rather than being what is best in the context or situation.
Ask the children to share examples of times when they have had to accept not getting what they wanted. Stories about siblings and sharing are often good for this.
Teacher tip
Use concrete objects and set up a 'shop' rather than the ones suggested on screen. You could invite children to come up and swap the order of different items around to reinforce that priorities are differ between people and concepts.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the items with need or want.
Need
Want
Q2.Alex goes to buy some sweets at the till but realises that he has lost his wallet. Which of these feelings is most likely to describe how Alex might feel knowing his wallet is lost?
Q3.Izzy goes to buy her favourite snack from the shop. They are being sold as a two-for-one deal. Which of these feelings is most likely to describe how Izzy might feel?
Q4.How might this situation make Jun feel? Jun saves up to buy a toy but goes to the shops and realises it’s more expensive than he thought so he doesn't have enough money.
Q5.Andeep is in the toy shop. He can only buy one of these items. Which should he choose?
Q6.True or false. You should never buy what you want.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the words with their definitions.
Something essential or very important.
A thing you wish you could have.
Something that you think is more important than other things.
Q2.Imagine you are going camping. Look at the list of items to take and identify which of these is a want and not a need.
Q3.Which of these items is the priority on a long car journey?
Q4.The lists below are prioritised from most important to least important. If Alex is buying a birthday present for his baby sister, which prioritised list is the correct?
Q5.Your school has cricket and hockey matches coming up soon. You have a budget of £200 for new equipment. Tick the items your school should choose to buy.
Q6.Your school has sports day and a football tournament coming up soon. You have a budget of £200 for new equipment. Tick the items your school should choose to buy.
To help you plan your 4 financial education lesson on: What is the difference between wants, needs and priorities?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 4 financial education lesson on: What is the difference between wants, needs and priorities?, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 financial education lessons from the Making money decisions unit, dive into the full primary financial education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.