Lemonade stand math: a 40-minute cost, price and profit game

Stand numbers (pretend, round prices): lemons and sugar for one pitcher cost $3.00, a pack of 10 cups costs $1.00, one pitcher fills 10 cups, and renting a table and sign costs $2.00 a day. Customers by price: at 50 cents you sell 40 cups, at 75 cents 30 cups, at $1.00 20 cups, at $1.50 10 cups.

1. Ask: "If you sell a cup for 50 cents, did you make 50 cents?" Collect ideas, then teach three words: cost (what you spend), price (what the customer pays) and profit (money in minus money out).
2. Find the cost per cup together: one pitcher plus 10 cups costs $4.00 and fills 10 cups, so each cup costs 40 cents.
3. Teams of two or three pick one of the four prices and predict which will earn the most profit.
4. Teams calculate revenue (price × cups sold), total cost (40 cents × cups, plus the $2 table) and profit. At 50 cents: $20 − $16 − $2 = $2.
5. Put every team's result on the board. Ask: "Why didn't the cheapest price earn the most? Why didn't the highest?" ($1.00 wins with $10 profit; $1.50 earns $9.)
6. Rainy-day twist: roll the die. On a 1 or 2, it rains and every stand sells half as many cups. Recalculate. Who still made a profit?
7. Close: "What else could a stand change to earn more?" Lower costs, a better spot, a sign customers notice.

Differentiation: for students who need more support, use whole-dollar prices and give play coins to count. For advanced students, have them invent a fifth price, guess the cups sold and test it, or add a cost for ice. For English learners, post cost, price, revenue and profit with a small picture for each. For students with fine-motor needs, let them be the team's calculator or speaker instead of the recorder.

Quick check: "Each cup costs 40 cents to make. You sell 15 cups at $1.00, and the table costs $2. What's your profit?" ($15 − $6 − $2 = $7.)

If you try it, tell us which price your class predicted would win and what actually did.