Money Matters: A Flea Market Venture by Dianne Wilton

Money coming in…money going out. You and your children will have fun balancing the books with your own game of Flea Market Venture.

Draw a new version of the familiar Monopoly neighbourhood on an opened blank file folder or a large piece of cardboard. Instead of real-estate properties, though, your game will be bordered with colourful tables, 4 or 5 “Chance” spaces, and a special allowance square which gives a player $2.00 each time he passes. Now, cut out a variety of catalogue pictures---from roller blades to popcorn cookers---and label them with garage-sale prices. These treasures are kept in a ziplock plastic bag, to be placed randomly along the tables at the start of each game. Make a stack of “Chance” cards, some with surprise benefits and some with unexpected expenses. (“You checked over your old stamps and one turned out to be worth a dollar!” or “You owe 50 cents for your share of the broken window.”)

To play, we each begin with a $20.00 credit. We take turns tossing dice to move around the board, buying objects we land on. When we make a purchase, we place a coloured disk on that table to claim the object. If another player lands on that spot, he must rent the object from its owner at 10% of the cost. If you’re not into fractions or decimals yet, your children might prefer to pay a constant amount for rent. Landing on a “Chance” space is an opportunity to pick and act upon a windfall or an expense card. The objective is to be the first player to double your $20.

The traditional game of Monopoly uses play money but because we’ve recently started credit union accounts, we use a debit-credit accounting sheet to record each action. A running balance is kept as we buy or rent objects, collect our allowance, and act upon “Chance” cards. There’s lots of adding and subtracting, and it’s easy to see why it’s important to print numerals carefully and to put them in correct columns.
Playing our version recently, I heard Chelsey whisper, “I need to save my money. I’ll wait for my next allowance before I buy that.” Flea Market Venture is fun to make, fun to play, and definitely more than a game. It’s the stimulus for a great learning experience.

About the author: Dianne Wilton is the author of Kitchen Table Classroom. Don’t forget to check her website at:
http://ktclassroom.tripod.com/ for fun learning activities each day. dianne@danwilton.com
http://ktclassroom.tripod.com
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