Run a Bakery: Money Math & Financial Literacy Project

Having kids run their own bakery is such a fun financial literacy project. It's a great way to practice basic operations with whole numbers and decimals, and running their own businesses gives students a chance to review financial literacy concepts as well! We’ve done this activity using real baked goods, but it can be done with paper “baked goods” too. You can have students draw and cut out their own, or use the ones provided in the Bakery Math Activity we created!

Financial Literacy Project: Cross-Curricular Applications

The best part about this activity is you can make it as simple or as in-depth as you want and it works for so many different age groups. Plus, it's easy to incorporate other subjects:

• Art: Have the kids create a name for their bakery and design eye-catching signs, logos, and menus with drawings of the baked goods they plan to have in their bakery.

• Writing: Have students create advertisements convincing people to visit their bakery, or write scrumptious descriptions of the baked goods for the menu.

Fun for All Age Groups

This is one of those activities that can be leveled way up, and way down. The handouts we use are open-ended, so teachers can keep the prices whole numbers for the youngest learners, simple decimals for elementary kids, or use more complex decimals and incorporate tax for older kids. Here's what we've found works well for different age groups:

• Preschool & Early-elementary: For our littles mathematicians, we have them price their baked goods using whole numbers smaller than ten. We use only ones or fives for play money, and let them take turns "shopping" at the bakery. When they're finished, it's easy for them to count up their money to see how much their bakery earned. If you haven't covered counting by 5's yet, you can also just have them use ones.

• Upper-elementary: We step it up a notch for the older elementary kids by having students keep track of their sales and their bakery costs to find out how much the bakery earned in profits.

• Junior High and Up: This one isn't just for the littles! Use more complicated decimals and have kids calculate taxes as well to level it up.

The Set-Up

First, determine whether you want your kids using real baked goods or the cut-out baked goods provided in the handouts, or hand-drawn. Using real baked goods adds another layer of complexity and planning, but it is also a lot of fun! In the classroom with a large number of kids, I had them each bring in something for their bakery. But if allergies are a concern or you want to keep it simple, using paper "baked goods" works really well too.

In groups, have kids set up their bakeries however you'd like! Here's where they can get creative and design their signs, decide what they want to sell, and create their menus. For older kids, I pass out a "Sales Tracker" sheet. On the sales tracker, students can go ahead and fill in the "Bakery Costs" section for each baked good they'll have in their bakery. The teacher can give them the "Cost to Make Each Unit" amount based on ability level. For younger kids, use whole numbers. For upper-elementary and older, they can work with decimals. Then students can set their sale price and fill in how many of each baked good they have.

The Sale

Once everything is set up, I let one group at a time go around and shop at the bakeries. As the groups visit each bakery, have them keep a tally for the baked goods they've sold on the "Bakery Earnings" section.

I have our youngest learners (Pre-K/Kindergarten) simply shop with their play money. They still get good practice working with whole numbers in exchanging money for the baked goods, but it keeps it much simpler!

Calculating Profit

Older kids easily understand that businesses have to spend money in order to create their products. When they close their bakeries for the day, they calculate how much they made for each category of baked good. Then, they figure out how much they spent to make their baked goods, and subtract to find the profit!

Kids have such a good time running their bakeries. It's a delicious way to practice whole number operations, decimal operations, money math, and financial literacy!

And the best part? If you choose to use real baked goods, you get to “shop” too and get a little snack in the middle of your day!