This document provides teaching guidelines and student material for a unit intended for use in fifth and sixth grade social studies and economics programs. Time allotment is from four to six hours. The objectives are to help students identify the difference between wants and needs, to distinguish between items that are scarce and abundant, to identify ways to earn extra money, and to construct a simple weekly budget. Three sections deal with the wants and needs of consumers, scarcity, supply and demand of money, and budgeting. A suggested prerequisite is viewing an elementary economics filmstrip. Thirteen activities include listing personal wants and needs, making posters and collages, viewing films and filmstrips, charting, solving word problems, and setting up a simple budget. Three supplementary activities are ranking wants and needs and making a monthly budget for the family, planning and budgeting a class party, and doing a creative project. The teacher's guide provides advance preparation information, keys to activities and tests, a bibliography, and copies of all worksheets and assessments. (CK)