Next best choice: a 3rd grade opportunity cost card game
What it is: a 3rd grade economics game where students rank three choices and learn that the opportunity cost of a decision is the most valued thing they give up. Every round asks the same question, "What was your next best choice?", so students practice naming the trade in each decision.
Time: about 25 minutes. Grade: 3rd grade.
Materials: choice cards in sets of three (for example, with $10: a book, a kite or a movie ticket; with a free Saturday hour: soccer, drawing or a video call with a cousin), and a recording sheet with three columns: I chose, I gave up, Why.
- Write scarcity on the board: our wants are bigger than what we have, so we must choose.
- Model one set: rank the three cards out loud. Say: "I choose the book. My next best choice was the kite, so the kite is my opportunity cost."
- In groups of 3, students draw a set, rank it secretly, then reveal and compare. Different students can have different opportunity costs for the same set.
- Students record each round: I chose, I gave up, Why.
- Play 4 rounds, mixing money choices and time choices.
- Close: "Is the third choice part of the opportunity cost?" (No. Only the next best one is.)
Differentiation: students who need support use sets of two. Students who are ready write their own set of three for a real family decision. English learners can use the frame "I chose ___, so I gave up ___."
Quick check: give a student three choices and ask them to name their opportunity cost.
Save this activity to your library so it is ready when you need it.
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About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 31, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades 3–5
- Subject
- Social studies, Life skills & money
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.