Wants and needs

Age: under 10

Aim: To discuss the difference between things we need and things we want

You will need: blank cards/slips of paper, pens or pencils, a group of people

How long will it take?: 30 minutes

What to do:

1) What do you need to live?
Split into two groups. In each group talk about the things that you NEED to live, and write these on the pieces of card/paper. You can draw a picture to illustrate each word. You can also think of the question as 'What could you not live without?'

2) What do you want, but could live without?
Talk about all the things that you like having, but which it is possible to live without. For example television, music, pets and so on. Write these on cards in a similar way.

Each group should then give their set of cards to the other group. Both groups should look at the new sets of cards, and try to divide them up into needs and wants. Let the original group say if they were correct and which items were in the wrong pile. As a whole group discuss the difference between 'wants' and 'needs'.

As a whole group try to list the 'needs' in order of importance. There will probably be lots of discussion and disagreement. Try to justify your reasons for how you want to order the cards.

Extra option

Discuss further, comparing your lists of needs and wants with the 'Rights of the Child'. Many of the rights in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are to do with the basic rights: to education, to a healthy environment to grow up in (including leisure, sport, play), to enough food and water, to shelter, to be heard in society, to be protected and to participate. Other things that we might 'want', such as electronic games or certain types of 'cool' clothes, are not 'needs' but we sometimes see them as such.

For more information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child see the Save the Children UK website. [http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/scuk/jsp/whatwedo/theme.jsp?section=equalityrights ]