Demand Curves

• Experiments for young children need to not only be educational, but they need to be fun as well. Basic aspects of economics can be taught to children as economics is a subject people deal with on a daily basis. One of the easiest aspects to convey is a basic demand curve and how external factors affect the demand. On selected days over the course of several weeks or even months, bring objects, such as cold soft drinks, warm tea or even hot chocolate to the classroom. On each day ask the kids how much they would be willing to pay for each of the drinks. Plot the results over time. What should become evident is that the results will be dependent upon the weather, an external factor.
  
  

Marginal Utility

• Another project that walks hand in hand with demand curves is marginal utility. Although it has an intimidating name, it can easily be expressed to kids with a simple experiment. Have kids graph their level of happiness or satisfaction. Then give the kids something that will increase happiness, such as candy or a drink. Have them regraph their new happiness level. Do this consistently several times in a row, having them graph the results each time. The graph should begin to level out as each subsequent gift has less and less of an effect, showing the concept of marginal utility.
  
  

Seed Growth

• One of the oldest and simplest experiments involves giving children the opportunity to grow their own plant. Give each child a small container, some potting soil and a seed, such as a lima bean. Have the children plant the seed in the soil in the container. Make sure they water it every day. Over time the seed will begin to grow. The children can monitor the growth rates through graphing.
  
  

Brain Basics

• Although the brain is an extremely complex mechanism, some of the basics can be conveyed to children with basic experiments and activities. One of the easiest is hemisphere dominance. It can be displayed based on the results of several different types of experiments. One experiment is to ask children to write and then record which hand they write with. Another involves asking them to walk and then write down which leg was the leading leg. The final experiment involves asking them to wink and write down the winking eye. For each activity, the hemisphere opposite to the side of their body they utilized should be the dominant one.