Start a Tiny Business
A class stand sells 8 cups of lemonade at €2 each and spends €5 on ingredients. How much of that is really profit?
Ready-to-print worksheets
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In the year workbook
My Money YearThis lesson has a companion in the printable year workbook: pupil pp. 19–20, teacher companion p. 17.
Learning objectives
- Explain cost, price and profit
- Design a simple product and set a price a customer would accept
- Show why sales money is not the same as profit
Vocabulary
- Cost
- The amount of money you need to pay for something.
- Price
- How much money something costs to buy.
- Profit
- The money left after you take away what something cost to make.
- Customer
- A person who buys what you sell.
- Value
- How much something is worth or how useful it is.
Materials
Minute-by-minute flow
7′
Hook
Teacher does
Show the stand — 8 cups at €2 and €5 of ingredients — and ask if all the money taken is profit.
Students do
Say whether the whole €16 is profit.
12′
Teach
Teacher does
Model sales 8 × €2 = €16, then profit €16 − €5 = €11; stress that sales is not profit.
Students do
Work out the €11 profit and explain the difference.
25′
Build a business
Teacher does
Give groups a mat and one stated cost.
Students do
Design a second product, set a price a customer would accept, and find the profit on one sale.
10′
Market test
Teacher does
Act as a picky customer questioning the price.
Students do
Defend a fair price or adjust it.
6′
Exit
Teacher does
Debrief why sales money is not profit.
Students do
State their product's cost, price and profit per sale.
Check for understanding
Can the learner find profit as sales minus cost, and tell sales apart from profit?
Exit ticket
My product costs €__, sells for €__, profit €__.
Support
Use the given €16 sales and €5 cost with round play coins.
Stretch
Add a second €3 cost (so €16 − €8 = €8 profit) or a competitor's price and re-decide.
Home connection
Spot one small business near home and guess one cost it must cover.