Grade 7 Economics Basics word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

Grade 7 Economics Basics word search, scramble and crossword puzzle

I made this economics basics puzzle set for my 7th graders during our social studies unit. The kids knew what money was and that people buy things, but they had no idea what words like supply, demand, or scarcity meant when we started talking about how economies work. So I put together a word search, a word scramble, and a crossword using words like economy, goods, services, supply, demand, scarcity, producer, consumer, market, price, profit, competition, and trade . I also included a few like "opportunity cost" and "resource" because they kept coming up in our class discussions . Nothing fancy — just puzzles to help the vocabulary finally stick.

The PDF is four pages. Three puzzles plus one answer key page. The word search works well for quiet time after recess or independent practice. The scramble gets them talking because they argue about the spelling of "scarcity" (it's a tricky one) or whether supply and demand are the same thing (they're not—they always have opinions about it) . The crossword I use for partners or as a review, and I usually have examples of goods and services nearby for the kids who need the visual support to see the difference between them . I added a couple simple dollar sign, handshake, and store drawings but nothing too busy.

Works for 7th through 8th grade. Print and go. Sometimes I have early finishers write one example of a good and one example of a service on the back. The kids actually ask for these now.