We're having an Economics and Financial Literacy Unit for school right now, which means it was time to break out our family currency (Bunny Money). It's been years since we've done Bunny Money, so the little kids have been loving it. Zig earned enough for "Get a Treat with Mommy and Daddy" and this is the treat he chose! It was fun to talk with him and see how happy and proud of himself he was.
A side effect of Bunny Money is the breakoff currencies it inspires (this happened last time too; Abe was paying his siblings in "Bearti" for years and years after the unit, getting them to make his bed and fetch things for him etc.). This time Ziggy made his own money and this was a list he made of what one could buy with it.
(Incidentally, and I don't say this to Ziggy, but it is SO interesting how spelling really does seem to be something that can't be learned or taught. Or, only to an extent. I used to think that anyone who was a good reader would be a good speller too. Spelling has always been easy for me! But Malachi, who was perhaps my most voracious reader of all time, and who loves writing and speaking and dissecting arguments, is just the worst speller. The worst! Hopeless at it! Thank heavens for spell check. And I admit he has improved over the years. But…he still shocks me sometimes with how he wants to spell things! Anyway, Ziggy is the same. He loves to read and reads all the time. He took to reading really fast and reads way above his level, and doesn't struggle with that at all. But his spelling!! It is incomprehensible! Gus, who just barely learned to read, is already vastly better at spelling!)
Ziggy's list of things to buy inspired Gus to make one too. My favorite is "Go on a nachr walk" (a nature walk); such a delightful idea.
(Bunny Money looks like this, if you're wondering. Don't get any big ideas about printing some out and using it. Unless you want to buy a 10-minute back scratch or "stay up and have hot chocolate with Mommy and Daddy.")
Well! What I meant to say, before all that, is just that we had a "store" day and all the children made or found things to sell. They all thought of such good ideas! Teddy sold paper airplanes and bunch of his Build Box creations. Daisy made individually-wrapped little rice crispie treats (the good kind made with peanut butter and with chocolate on top), Goldie made muffins, Junie made individual layered jello cups, Ziggy made graham cracker sandwiches and coloring pages tailored to the interests of his siblings. There were mazes and activity books and little paper fortune-tellers. Everyone gathered old toys and games to sell. And I got some household items and little tiny toy food at Walmart which I handed out to let everyone sell too (they were different tiny foods and even though the kids all got some, I knew some specific ones would be popular enough that there would be demand to buy and sell them!)
Goldie's store was elephant-themed, of course! And she made THE CUTEST little crocheted elephant to sell. We all wanted it. We would have paid triple what she charged! She should have sold it to her dear mother, but Daisy swooped in and bought it before I could. Hmmph.
That's Harriet sitting by Ziggy. She's my friend Andrea's daughter and she was staying with us for a few days. She made beautiful handwritten name cards to sell at the store!
Junie's jello cups were SO popular. I wanted to get one, but they were a little expensive, I thought…seven bunny dollars! I hoped she'd maybe mark them down at the end, so I bided my time. And then when Junie had only one left, she RAISED the price to $13! And someone bought it! Tsk tsk. Where did such a sweet girl learn such cutthroat business practices?
All the kids were busily getting everything ready the day before the store, and Gus came to me proudly with the signs he'd made for his store. He was already advertising "donuts for sal" and "strobiry lemad" so what could I do but run to the store and get him a couple donuts and some bottles of lemonade to sell?
Later I realized that he had made his OWN versions of those products out of paper! They were soooo cute! (But I don't know if siblings would have actually bought them. So it's probably good he had the real stuff too.)
This was one of the tiny foods. They are SO realistic! Little tiny cheese wedges in the little tiny package, and each cheese wedge actually packaged in its own tiny foil wrapper. Eeeeee!
Daisy with her ill-gotten elephant.
Such a cute tiny guy! Goldie just made up the pattern. How did she??
More tiny food and books
At the end there was much frantic putting-on-sale and two-for-one deals and bartering among the shopkeepers…but eventually everything was sold and everyone was happy and felt richer. (And they were richer! The power of free enterprise…)
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