A lesson for children that hones in on borrowing and the potential repercussions of it.
Group Meeting:
Gather your group to the meeting area and have them take a seat.
Introduce the lesson by asking the children if there was ever a time they needed to borrow something. What did that look like for them?
Have the children list out different things children, teenagers, and adults borrow from one another.
Ask the group, “How does borrowing something like a pencil or toy look different from borrowing money?”
Explain that when an object like a pencil or a bike is borrowed, it can usually be easily returned and nothing more is asked of you. You take the pencil, use it, and return it to its owner. However, borrowing something like money is more complicated.
Tell the kids to imagine if they asked to borrow a pencil and the person said, “Yes, but for every day you borrow my pencil, you now owe me two more pencils. Three days later, you don’t just owe the person their pencil back, but six additional pencils” That is a more similar analogy to borrowing money.
Ask the group if there was ever a time borrowing turned into a bad experience, then ask for when a good experience with borrowing happened. What was the difference in those scenarios?
Using a whiteboard or butcher paper, write out the following questions:
Do I trust the person I’m borrowing from?
Does the person I’m borrowing from trust me?
Are there any ‘tricks’ or conditions that may be harmful?
Do I need to borrow this or can I get it later?
If I borrow this, can I give/pay it back easily?
Have the children list out any other questions that are important to consider when borrowing.
Explain to the group that borrowing money or things from other people isn’t bad by itself, but being cautious beforehand is a good idea.
Afterward, transition to the activity.
Summary of Tasks/Activity:
Deal or no deal?
Depending on class size, have the children split off into groups of 2-4.
Tell the groups that for this activity, you’re going to call out a few different scenarios of borrowing. It is the job of the kids to yell out “deal!” if the scenario sounds like a good idea, or “no deal!” if the scenario sounds like a bad idea.
State the following scenarios and have children respond “deal!” or “no deal!” to:
“You really need to use a friend’s bike to get to the store, so you ask and they tell you ‘Sure! You can use my bike. Just make sure to take good care of it and give it back to me at the end of the day.’ Deal or no deal?”
“While at the store, you were able to buy everything you needed, but you’re 50 cents short of a candy bar you really want. A man you don’t know tells you he’ll get you the candy bar today, but by tomorrow you better have five dollars to give him back or else. Deal or no deal?”
“At school you see an older kid chewing gum, and you ask if she has any extra you can have. She says you can have a piece, as long as the next time you have a pack of gum she can have a piece too. Deal or no deal?”
“You’re having dessert after dinner and finish your piece of pie. It was so good you’d like seconds, but your sister already has the last piece. She says you can have it if you do her chores for the next two weeks. Deal or no deal?”
After answering these scenarios, have the groups of children come up with their own scenarios to act out and present in front of everyone.
