Free Needs and Wants Activities for Kindergarten
If you are looking for some free needs and wants activities for kindergarten students, then keep reading below! We know that teachileng kids about needs and wants is an important part of their social and emotional development. When children understand the difference between needs and wants, they can make informed decisions about their spending and saving habits. They are also more likely to be grateful for the things they have and to understand the importance of helping others.
If you want to learn how to teach your students needs vs. wants, then Keep reading below for some engaging activities you can find in Canva.
What are needs and wants in the context of kindergarten?
Understanding needs and wants is so important for your students' cognitive and language development.
Needs are things we must have to survive – like food, shelter, and clothing – while wants are things we would like to have but are not essential for survival.
Kindergarten is a great time to work on this skill. By working on needs and wants activities for kindergarten at this young age, you can target more complex language skills, such as:
- Categorization
- Reasoning
- Critical thinking
- Vocabulary
- Expressive and receptive vocabulary (when you use the featured Canva templates!)
Needs and Wants Lesson Plan for Kindergarten
You don't have to do any planning at all because I have given you a full easy lesson plan! In this blog post, I'll guide you through a few activities so you can use to target this important lesson with your kindergarten students. If you also work with older students, I have tons of ideas for you as well in these lesson plans.
Sample Lesson Plan for ‘Needs vs Wants' in Kindergarten
Objective: To help kindergarteners understand and explain the difference between needs and wants using these needs and wants activities for kindergarten (Especially those kiddos in speech therapy or special education).
Here's a goal you can target during your lessons:
The student will accurately identify and express the difference between ‘needs' (e.g., food and water) and ‘wants' (e.g., toys and candy) in various scenarios, with 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions.
Duration: Approximately 30-40 minutes
- Introduction (5-10 minutes): Firstly, start with a story or a short video explaining ‘needs' and ‘wants'. Check out these books on video here.
- Brainstorming activity: Give the students this Canva template to list out all their needs and wants.
- Small Group Activity (10-15 minutes): Use the picture cards for a sorting game. Divide the class into small groups and have them categorize the items into needs and wants.
- Discussion (5-10 minutes): Start a class discussion where students share their thoughts on why they categorized items as needs or wants.
- Digital Worksheets (5-10 minutes): to reinforce the concept through interactive play (e.g., an app or digital game).
- Conclusion (5 minutes): So, to recap the lesson and ask students to name one need and one want they have.
- If you want to work with students individually, then use these needs and wants interactive adapted books.
Differentiated Learning for Kindergarten Students
Every child learns differently, so it's important to adapt your lesson plan to cater to various learning styles. With these Canva templates, you'll be able to adjust for:
- Visual Learners: Using lots of visual aids, such as images and videos,
- Auditory Learners: Incorporate storytelling, discussions, and songs about ‘needs and wants'.
- Kinesthetic Learners: Engage these learners with hands-on fun activities (e.g., role-playing or using physical objects for sorting games).
- Digital Learners: Utilize educational technology and interactive games for a more immersive experience.
How Do You Teach Kids About Wants Versus Needs?
The best way to introduce these needs and wants activities for kindergarten is by asking the students what they know about things they need or want.
Create a needs and wants chart on the white board or a large piece of paper so the students can brainstorm a list of needs and wants. Then have them categorize the items into two columns: needs and wants.
List of wants and needs for kids:
Wants (what we want but don't need for survival)
- Video games
- Pets
- Toys and games
- Candy
- Jewelry
- Laptop
Then, use these basic questions to get your students thinking about this essential question:
- What are the differences between needs and wants?
- Why are some things needs while others are wants?
- Do you think an adult needs and wants the same thing as a child?
There are many fun and engaging ways to teach kindergartners about needs and wants. If you want to access some free worksheets and free resources that you can use in your small groups or individual sessions, then head to Canva now!
Needs and Wants Books
Another great way to teach the concepts of wants and needs is by using books! There are so many different options for targeting these skills with picture books.
If you want a digital version of these fun books, then check out these fun books on video that will help young students understand the difference:
Needs vs. Wants vs. Robots by Michael Rex
My students love this book! A little girl, Ellie, sets off on an adventure with her two robots, Zip and Zap. Zip is programmed to understand human needs, like food, water, shelter, and love. On the other hand, Zap is programmed to understand human wants, such as toys and gadgets. Ellie debates what is more important – either needs or wants!
Those Shoes by Meredith Boelts
This story is about a young boy who wants a pair of shoes that everyone else at school seems to have. This is one of my favorite books!
Lily Learns about Wants and Needs by Lisa Bullard:
This book is part of a series that teaches young kids about financial literacy. Lily has a list of things she wants, but she learns about the difference between these and what she needs. This is an easy lesson for 2nd grade students!
The Bag I’m Taking To Grandma’s by Shirley Neitzel
The story is about a young boy who is getting ready to visit his grandmother. Throughout the story, he carefully picks out various items that he “needs” and “wants” to pack into his bag. You can also target sequencing and vocabulary with this book.
Needs vs Wants Bingo
This is a great interactive activity to introduce the concept of wants and needs. The items on the bingo boards include students' needs, such as food, water, and shelter. Others are wants, such as toys, games, and candy. Have the students play bingo as you call out the names of different items. The great part about this is that the bingo boards are completely editable, so you change out the images to something that will grab your students' attention (like pictures of their favorite cartoon characters). You can even add your own pictures!
This game is perfect for young children, but you can also use it with your 2nd and 3rd grade students.
Prep Needs and Wants Bingo:
Print out all the sheets included in the template. (This activity comes in both black and white colors.)
- Then, cut out all the picture cards.
- Laminate the bingo boards and calling cards for durability.
- Grab something to mark off each item (e.g., dot markers, tokens, or chips).
Instructions for bingo play:
- Give each student a bingo board and some dot markers, bingo chips, or tokens.
- Toss the calling cards into a paper bag or a fun hat (like a Christmas hat!)
- The, have the students pick out a calling card.
- Ask the student to describe why they need or want this item.
- If the item is on the student's bingo board, they can mark it off.
- The first student to get five in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) wins.
Variations:
- You can also change the pictures of needs and pictures of wants in this engaging activity! This is a Canva template so there are endless possibilities.
- Add different items on the bingo boards, such as pictures of real objects, drawings of objects, or words that describe objects.
- Ask the students about real-life situations where they had to make a choice between a want and need.
Before playing bingo, make sure to talk about basic needs and wants and ask students to give examples of needs and wants.
Here are some additional things you can do if you work with older students (3rd grade to high school):
- Have students write a short sentence or paragraph telling why they “need” or “want” something for Christmas.
- Have students create a wants poster or infographic in Canva that explains the differences between needs and wants. They can feature some of the things they want (e.g., ice cream or video games) and need (e.g., healthy food).
- Have students role-play a scenario where they have to choose between meeting a need and satisfying a want – Students love to role-play and this will be a fun way to target expressive language skills.
Needs and Wants Scavenger Hunt
For this no-prep activity, you don't need a template. Just take your students on a fun scavenger hunt around your room or school. Have them find items that they need, such as a pencil, paper, or a book, and let them explain why they chose these items. Then have them find items that they want, such as a toy, a game, or a piece of candy.
If you want to prep something ahead of time, then you can give the students a list of items in your room that are needed and wanted.
They can walk around the room to find the different items listed.
This activity is a great way to get students up and moving around.
It is also a fun and engaging way to learn about the difference between needs and wants.
Suggestions for Needs and Wants Scavenger Hunt:
- Make sure the lists of needs and wants are appropriate for the age of the students.
- Give the students enough time to find all the items on their list.
- Encourage the students to work together as a team.
- Then, have the students discuss the difference between needs and wants.
Needs and Wants Adapted Books
Adapted books are excellent for young learners and autistic children. I have two Canva templates that you can easily create to focus on the needs and wants of your students this Christmas.
- Each page has a photo of something the child might “need” or “want” for Christmas (like a toy, book, etc.).
- The students have to read the sentence included and express what they want and need.
- Then, students have to find the correct answer that finishes the sentence.
Grab the templates here (so you can start editing today!):
Needs and Wants Digital Worksheets
If you're looking for some digital needs and wants activities for kindergarten, check out this new category of worksheets in Canva! With digital worksheets, you can assign the work to your students in Google Classroom, and they can be taken directly to Canva to work on the templates.
Here are some of the digital worksheet templates I created for you:
Needs and Wants Venn Diagram
With this worksheet, students must drag the pictured items into the needs or wants category. If they think that certain items are both needs AND wants, then they can drag the picture into the middle. This activity has interactive whiteboards you can use to target needs vs. wants.
Needs and Wants Sort Digital Worksheet
Similar to the previous worksheet, this needs and wants cut and paste activity asks them to cut and pastethe items into the correct box.
Needs and Wants Printables
Needs and Wants List for grades K-3
If you need a simple worksheet where your students can brainstorm what they want and need, you can get this fun writing prompts template. To print out this worksheet, just click on the download button in Canva and download as a pdf file.
Needs and Wants Interactive Games for Kindergarten
This colorful and printable Canva template is great for autistic kids, too! The set includes:
- 2 boards that show items a student might want or need slightly greyed out.
- 2 sentence strips so students can easily express their needs and wants.
- Individual cards that show each of the pictures the students have to match.
- 2 boards that don't include any pictures.
You can determine how difficult or easy to make this activity! If the student is new to the concept of needs and wants, you may want to give them the boards that include the greyed-out pictures.
Do they need more of a challenge? Then have students use the boards without pictures. They'll have to explain to you why each item is a “want” or a “need.”
Needs and Wants Role-Play
These needs and wants activities for Kindergarten are a great way to help students understand the difference between needs and wants.
Firstly, divide the group into pairs. Then, give each pair a scenario in which they have to choose between a need and a want. For example, you could give them the following scenario:
- You are at the store and you have $10 to spend. You can either buy a new toy or save your money for a new pair of shoes.
- It's your best friend's birthday next week, and you have $20. You can either buy a gift for your friend or a video game for yourself. How will you spend your money?
- You only have $25 to spend on school supplies. There's a cool set of markers and decorative items you want for your desk, but you also need a new set of textbooks. What's your priority?
After the role-plays, have a class discussion about the decisions they made. Ask the students why they made the choices that they did.
Also, discuss the difference between needs and wants and how it can be difficult to make decisions when you have limited resources.
This activity is a great way to help students develop their critical thinking skills and learn how to make good decisions. It is also a fun and engaging way to learn about the difference between needs and wants.😊
Bonus Needs and Wants Activities for Kindergarten:
Needs and Wants Craft
If you need a more challenging activity, then have the students create their own needs and wants board.
Here's how:
- Have students think about all the things they need and want in their lives.
- Once students have a list of their needs and wants, have them prioritize them.
- This can be done by ranking them from most important to least important, or by grouping them into categories such as “essential,” “important,” or “nice to have.”
- Finally, have students create a needs and wants board that includes their choices.
This activity is a great way for students to reflect on the important things in life and helps them appreciate what they have and what's important!
More Needs and Wants Activities for Kindergarten to 3rd Grade
Here are some additional ideas for activities that can be used to teach the difference between needs and wants:
- Have students brainstorm a list of needs and wants. This activity will help students to identify the different types of things that people need and want.
- Have students ask each other the different ways they meet their needs and wants. This activity will help students to understand the different ways that people can satisfy their needs and wants.
Christmas Speech Therapy Activities
This blog has been updated to include 10 more Christmas activities you can download for free in Canva.
If you want all the freebies, then view my blog post here:
Christmas Speech Therapy Activities
Check out the update and get all the new Canva templates for Christmas.
Winter Speech Therapy Activities
If you want free winter-themed speech therapy activities ready for you to explore in Canva, then check out this blog post!
Winter Speech Therapy Activities
Make sure you subscribe so you can be the first to find out about new winter activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, needs and wants are two important concepts that can significantly impact our lives. It is important to understand the difference between needs and wants so that we can make informed decisions about how to spend our time and money. We should also be aware of how our needs and wants change over time, as this can help us to make better decisions about our future. The holiday season is the perfect time of year to work on needs and wants, so get your thematic unit today! So, use these great activities next time you want to target social-emotional skills in kindergarten through middle school.
Related Holiday Blog Posts
- Christmas Speech Therapy Activities
- Winter Vocabulary Activities for Speech Therapy
- Thanksgiving Worksheets for Speech Therapy
- Speech Therapy Worksheets for Halloween
- Fall Activity Worksheets for Speech Therapy
More Holiday Therapy Activities
- Guess that Gift
- Christmas Vocabulary Bingo Game
- Christmas Email Headers
- December Holiday Games
- December Holiday Celebrations around the World
- December Holiday Bingo
Needs and Wants Activities for Kindergarten
Here are all the links to the resources mentioned in this blog post:
- Needs and Wants Bingo: printable
- Needs and Wants Picture Sort Worksheet: digital
- Needs and Wants Writing Worksheet: printable
- What do you want for Christmas? Adapted Book: printable
- What do you need for Christmas? Adapted Book: printable
- Christmas Wants and Needs Wish List Worksheet: printable
- Needs and Wants Comparision: digital
