Camping Budget Project: Gr 5-8 Budget Worksheet Personal Finance

Here’s an engaging, summer-themed, real-world math budget project for your middle grades students (in grades 5-8). The math project incorporates useful personal finance and financial literacy skills along with realistic budgeting. Each student in your class is going to plan their purchases for a summer camping trip with friends!

How to Use:

1. You will assign each student in your class a budget (I recommend between $400-$1,750). A $400 budget will be challenging, and the student might only be able to bring one friend and buy mainly low-cost items. On the other hand, a $1,750 budget will be much more luxurious, and that student will be able to more friends and choose many fancy items.

2. Students work within their budgets, picking a low, middle, or high-cost choice for each category (tent, sleeping bag, cooler chairs, food and more). Certain items must be multiplied by the total number of campers while others (like a stove) do not.

3. Students will add up their eleven choices and make sure they stay within their budget. They might need to make a few trade-offs and skip desired items to ensure they have the things they can't camp without.

4. Finally, your students will calculate how much money they have left, and they will answer reflection questions shopping within a budget, earning more money, or buying things used.

What's Included: 5 Page PDF

It's Ready to Print and Go!

- Title page/teacher instructions

- 2 page budgeting worksheet: This includes all of the item choices and their prices.

- 1 page reflection: This is a great way to start a class discussion about budgeting- an important life skill.

- COMPLETE ANSWER KEY that includes a completed sample budget so you know exactly how to assess this project

Math skills required:

- adding, subtracting, and multiplying with whole numbers (up to the thousands): no decimals!

This project could also be a great addition to a high school life skills classroom!