Headband: Barter for Bands Activity

This instrucable is for creating a custom, cheap and easy to make headband.  The headbands can be customized with different colors to match any outfit.  They are great for wearing to school, to the gym or around the house.  Great idea for sports teams -- they can wear custom bands that match their team and show unity. 

This instructable is used with a lesson on middle school economics and business.  The students learn to barter and trade for the items they need to create the headband while also learning how to make the band! They must trade items they have and avoid "wants" in order to get all the supplies they need to make their headband and turn it in to sell it for extra credit. 

Learning Objective:
By bartering and trading for materials to assemble a hair band, students will understand the importance of trade, barter, needs, wants, goods, services and opportunity cost.  Not only will they learn how to make a hair band with cheap materials but learn how to barter for the materials they need as well.

The directions are for the lesson on making the hairband. 

Step 1 Materials/Resources

Materials/Resources

1 paper bag for each student  
Enough of the following items for (1) per student:
3 strips of colored tshirt or bandana (fabric scraps)
3 hair ties
1 heavy duty clip (binder clips work well) or a safety pin (if allowed in school)
2 pieces of string
Prize of some sort (extra credit, no homework, etc.)

Varying amounts of the following:
Other colors of fabric scraps
Jolly ranchers or gum  (small prizes to be used as “wants”)
Scissors (2 pairs)
Tags for those who are braiders (There will be 3 per class) (8 tags per person)
Posted list of needs hung in classroom
Posted rules for game

Comments

[wilgubeast]

This is pretty cool. Do the kids wear their bands around after completing them?

[tineorze]

They can or those that do not want them donate them to the school store :)