Where Does Money Come From?
A short question sequence about trading, wanting, and what happens when two people want different things. No paper needed.
- Ages
- 4 to 9
- Time
- 5 to 10 minutes
- You Need
- Nothing. Works in a car.
What to do
- Ask: if you had a goat and you wanted bread, what would you have to do?
- Let them work out that you need somebody who has bread and also wants a goat. Do not rush this part.
- Ask what happens if the bread person already has plenty of goats.
- Then say: so somebody invented money. Ask them to explain what it fixed.
Ask afterward
- Why is a coin worth something when it is just metal?
- What is something you own that you would never trade?
- What would be hard about trading if money did not exist?
- If everybody stopped agreeing money was worth something, what then?
For the grown-up
The goat problem is the double coincidence of wants without the phrase. Letting the child hit the dead end themselves is what makes money feel like an invention rather than a fact of nature.
Read this first
What Is Money?
The activity works on its own, and it works considerably better after the explanation it belongs with.
Read the explanation