Although there is a strong case for teaching economics at the middle school level, there are practical hurdles to making that goal a reality. Academic economists, who are well trained in economic theory and its applications, are not trained, generally, in the theory and application of effective curriculum development and teaching methods for the middle school classroom. Primary and secondary school teachers, who have training and experience in developing and delivering curriculum, rarely have a background in economics. That creates a divide that academic economists and middle school educators must bridge so that they can better serve teens who are beginning to make a lifetime of economic decisions. In this article, the author contributes to the bridge-building by presenting four activities that teach basic economic concepts and consumer decision making through active problem solving. Her goal in designing the curriculum is to address some National Council on Economic Education content standards (NCEE 2003) through a student-centered, problem-solving approach. She requires students to wrestle with economic decisions, and equips them with some of the knowledge and tools that they need to make good economic decisions and become savvy consumers. She has successfully used this set of activities with middle school students in the introductory portion of a three-week, problem-based course called Everyday Economics. The author also reports classroom outcomes, describing how students responded to the activities. Although the activities, outcomes, and assessment methods described here are targeted at middle schoolers, she has found that the activities work equally well in a college classroom and provide some similar outcomes.