Needs, Wants, Goods, Services, and Jobs

Think about what helps you get through a day. Your body needs food and water. You need clothes and a safe place to live, too.

What makes something a need?

A need is something you must have to live and stay healthy and safe. A baby has needs. So do you and every grown-up.

Four basic needs are food, water, clothing, and shelter. Each one helps you in a different way.

Shelter can be a house or an apartment. What matters is that it gives people a safe place to live.

Follow your needs through a day

At breakfast, you eat toast and beans. That meets your need for food. At school, you drink from the water fountain. That meets your need for water.

You put on a warm coat to go outside in winter. The coat is clothing that protects you from the cold. At night, you sleep at home. Your home gives you shelter.

These needs belong to everyone. People may eat different meals or live in different homes. They still need food, water, clothing, and shelter.

The need and the special thing

Ask yourself, “Could I live and stay healthy without it?” You cannot stay healthy without water. Water is a need.

You need food, but it does not have to be your favorite meal. Rice, bread, beans, and apples can help meet the need for food. Wanting one special food is different from needing food.

Someone might say, “I need that game!” They may wish for it very much. A strong wish does not make the game a need. They can live and stay healthy without that game.

Care helps you live well

People also need care and safety. Children need someone to look after them. A sick person may need a doctor or medicine. Everyone needs somewhere safe to sleep. Parents and other caregivers do work each day to help children get these things.

A toy you love can make your day more fun. A warm coat protects you on a snowy day. Both matter to you, but they do different jobs.

Spot a want

A want is something you would like but can live without. A sticker book, candy, a video game, and a movie trip are wants. It is fine to enjoy wants.

Use these questions to sort an item:

1. Do I need this to live and stay healthy and safe?
2. If I do not, is it something I would just like?

Start with what the thing does for the person. How much the person likes it is not enough to decide.

Sort six things

Imagine an apple, a sticker book, a warm winter coat on a snowy day, a glass of water, a toy robot, and a roof over your head.

The apple is food. The coat protects you from cold. The water keeps your body working. The roof is part of your shelter. These are 4 needs. The sticker book and toy robot are 2 wants.

One thing can have two parts

You need shoes that fit. Plain shoes can meet that need. You might want shoes that light up and show your favorite cartoon. The shoes meet a need; the lights and cartoon are extras you want.

Food needs care when you sort it. You need healthy meals. You do not need a big bag of candy. Calling candy “food” does not make it a basic need.

Think about the person and place

A child who cannot see clearly needs glasses to read and stay safe. A child who sees clearly does not need them. A person who cannot walk may need a wheelchair to get around.

Weather matters, too. A thick winter coat is needed in a snowy place in winter. A person staying in a hot place all year does not need that coat there.

Put needs first

When a family cannot get everything, needs come first. Then the family can choose wants if money and time are left. A birthday cake can be a lovely want. Sorting it as a want does not spoil the fun; it helps you see why dinner must come first.

Your home may look different from a home far away. Your meals may be different, too. People everywhere still need food, water, clothing, and shelter.

Homes and clothes fit the place

In rainy places, many homes have sloping roofs. Rain runs down the roof. Near rivers that flood, some homes stand on tall posts called stilts. Water can flow below them. In big cities, many families live in apartments.

People in hot places often wear light, loose clothes. Hats can shade their faces. In cold places, people need thick coats, hats, scarves, and mittens. The clothes help protect their bodies in that weather.

Food, water, and getting around

Families often eat foods that grow well nearby. Rice grows well in warm, wet places. Other everyday foods include bread, corn tortillas, potatoes, and fish.

Some families get clean water from a tap at home. Pipes bring it there. Others get water from a well or a pump. Clean water meets the same need however it reaches the family.

People also need a way to reach school, work, and stores. A family may walk, ride bikes, use buses or trains, drive, or travel by boat. The way depends on where they live.

Compare two families

Read across each row. The way changes, but the need stays the same. A home does not have to look like yours to give good shelter. Look at how it keeps the family safe and dry.

People help each other

Sometimes a family cannot get all it needs. A grown-up might lose a job. Relatives, neighbors, community groups, and the government can help. The government runs a town, city, or country. A food bank gives food to people who need it.

Needing help is nothing to be ashamed of. Helping families meet their needs is part of living in a community.

A pencil is a thing. A lesson is work someone does for you. You can sort what you get by looking at the thing or the work.

Goods are things

Goods are real things people grow or make. An apple, pencil, shirt, and bike are goods. Goods can be big, too. A car and a house are goods even though you cannot hold them in your hand.

Some goods grow. Farmers grow carrots. Other goods are made. Workers make shirts from cloth.

Services are work for others

A service is work someone does for you or for other people. A barber cuts your hair. A doctor checks your health. A driver gives you a bus ride. A teacher helps you learn.

You get help from the work. You do not get a new thing to own from the haircut itself.

Try the barbershop example

Jamal gets a haircut. The barber does the work of cutting. The haircut is a service.

His dad buys a comb. Someone made the comb, and Jamal can take it home. The comb is a good. One visit gives the family both a good and a service.

A restaurant works this way, too. The meal is a good. Cooking it and bringing it to your table are services. Focus on the thing or the action you are naming.

A place, a thing, or a job?

A store is a place where things are sold. Inside it, bread and milk are goods. When a worker helps you find the milk, that help is a service.

A bike is a good. Fixing the bike is a service. The worker may handle a real thing, but you are naming the repair work. That is why fixing a flat tire belongs with services.

Both help with needs and wants

Goods can meet needs, like food and clothes. They can also meet wants, like toys. Services can meet needs, like care from a doctor. Showing a movie at a theater is a service that meets a want.

Ask both questions separately: “Need or want?” and “Good or service?”

A library lends books to many families. Firefighters help people across a town. Some services are shared by a whole community.

Who helps the community?

Community helpers do many kinds of work. Firefighters put out fires and rescue people. Police officers help keep people safe. Librarians help people find and borrow books. Garbage collectors take away trash. Mail carriers bring letters and packages.

Schools teach children, and people care for parks where families play. These services help neighbors live together. Garbage pickup helps keep places clean and healthy. Firefighters can stop a fire from spreading to more homes.

Who runs these services?

Shared services are often called community services or public services. The government runs many of them. Businesses and community groups provide services, too.

Some helpers are volunteers. They work without pay to help others. In many small towns, some firefighters are volunteers. A helper can make an important difference whether the work is paid or unpaid.

Free to use still has a cost

You may borrow a library book without paying when you visit. That does not mean the library costs nothing. Someone must get the books, care for the building, and do the work.

Grown-ups and businesses pay taxes to the government. The government uses tax money to pay for services people share. That money helps buy fire trucks, run libraries, and pay many workers.

Follow a library book

1. The town uses tax money for books, the building, and librarians.
2. You show your library card and borrow a book for free.
3. You read it at home and return it.
4. Another child can borrow the same book.

The book is shared over time. Returning it lets the next person enjoy it. The librarian's work helps the sharing happen.

Notice the work near you

Think about one place you use with other people. Who helps it work well? A park may need someone to empty the trash cans. A school needs people to teach, clean, and prepare food. You may see the place first, but workers and money help keep the service going.

You can get a book without buying it. You might borrow it from a library or receive it as a gift. Buying is one way to get things, but there are others.

Choose a way to get a good

People buy goods at stores, markets, and online. When goods are ordered online, a delivery worker can bring them home. The thing is a good. Bringing it is a service.

Swapping is different from borrowing

Lily has an apple, and Sam has an orange. Each wants the other's fruit. They agree to swap. Lily gives her apple and gets Sam's orange. Both give and both get.

When you borrow a friend's crayons, you return them after using them. The friend still owns them. You do not give a different thing to keep in place of the crayons.

A family can share a sled by taking turns. They can also get goods by making them: growing tomatoes, baking bread, or knitting a scarf.

Services can come to you

A plumber can come to fix a leaking pipe. Garbage collectors pick up trash outside homes. A mail carrier brings letters to a mailbox.

For other services, you go somewhere. You visit a doctor's office for a checkup or a hair salon for a haircut. At the library, you can get help finding a book.

Follow the Lee family's week

The Lees buy milk at the grocery store. They borrow two picture books from the library. They pick lettuce from their garden. They swap outgrown boots with neighbors for a sled. A mail carrier brings a birthday card.

Look at the action each time. Buying gets the milk. Borrowing gets the books for a while. Growing gets the lettuce. Swapping gets the sled. Delivery brings the card. The family uses 5 different ways to get goods and services.

Many people help your school day happen. Some help you learn. Others prepare lunch, care for the building, or help you cross the street.

Jobs you meet each day

A job is work a person does, usually to earn money. At school, a teacher helps you learn. The principal leads the school. A custodian keeps the building clean and safe. Cafeteria workers make lunch. A school nurse helps when you feel sick. A crossing guard helps children cross safely.

Outside school, doctors and nurses care for sick people. Bus drivers give rides, and mail carriers deliver letters. Farmers grow food, bakers bake bread, and store clerks help people buy things. Garbage collectors and librarians also help your community.

Use clues to match a job

Look for what a worker does, where they work, and the tools they use.

Try this clue: “I clean and fix teeth in an office. I use a tiny mirror.” Cleaning teeth and the small mirror point to a dentist.

A uniform is not what makes work helpful. Store clerks and librarians help you even when their clothes look like everyday clothes.

Ask about a job

You can ask a worker, “What do you do at work?” Then ask, “Where do you work?” and “What tools do you use?” You might also ask, “What do you like about your job?” Draw or write the answers to remember them.

Jobs change over time

Before electric street lights, lamplighters walked around lighting gas lamps each evening. A blacksmith heated iron and hammered it into horseshoes and tools. Milk delivery workers brought fresh milk in glass bottles to homes. These jobs were more common in some places long ago.

Farmers once used horses to pull plows. Many use tractors today. Teachers, doctors, and farmers worked long ago and still work now. Computer programmers and cell phone repair workers do jobs that did not exist before those inventions.

A carpenter builds a table. A bus driver gives people rides. Both do work that helps others, but their work gives people different things.

Goods, services, or both?

Ask what the worker grows, makes, or does. A farmer grows food. A baker makes bread. A carpenter makes tables. Factory workers help make goods such as toys and cars.

A doctor checks health. A hairdresser cuts hair. A bus driver gives rides. A teacher helps people learn. These jobs give services.

That list has 2 jobs making goods and 2 giving services. A service is real work even though it does not make a new object. Teaching takes time, care, and effort.

Some workers do both. A tailor can sew new clothes and mend torn clothes. The new clothes are goods. Mending is a service. At a restaurant, the meal is a good. Cooking and serving it are services.

Skills are things you can do

A skill is something you can do well. Measuring, using tools, listening carefully, and sewing are skills. A builder needs to measure and use tools safely. A nurse needs to be careful and kind when caring for people.

A skill grows with practice. You may need help at first. With learning and practice, you can do more of the task yourself.

Knowledge is what you know

Knowledge means things you know. A baker needs to know a recipe and how hot the oven should be. The baker also needs the skill of mixing and shaping dough.

A nurse needs knowledge about the body and medicines. The nurse uses that knowledge while caring for a person. Knowing and doing work together.

Workers keep learning

People learn for work at school, at college, and by training while doing a job. Practicing helps them build skills. Many workers keep learning through their working lives. A job can need careful thinking and steady practice whether it gives a good or a service.

A grown-up may work at a hospital, cook at home, and help at an animal shelter. All three take work. The reasons for doing them can be different.

Work and pay

Many grown-ups work to earn money. Money someone gets for doing a job is called pay. Families use it for needs such as food and a home. They can also use it for wants.

Money connects people's jobs. A bus driver earns pay and buys bread from a baker. The baker earns money and rides the bus. Each worker uses goods or services that other workers provide.

People also work because they enjoy it. A job can use their strengths, help other people, and make them feel proud. Someone may have more than one reason to do the same job.

Work without pay

Cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning, and shopping for food take work. So does caring for babies or older relatives. People often do these jobs at home without pay.

You help when you make your bed, set the table, or feed a pet. Your work helps the household. Getting no pay does not make the work disappear.

A volunteer works without pay to help others. Volunteers may sort food at a food bank, clean a park, read to children at a library, or help at a school event.

One person, three kinds of work

Ms. Garcia is a nurse. On weekdays, she works at a hospital and gets paid. Her family uses her pay for their home, food, and new soccer shoes.

At home, she cooks dinner and helps with homework. Nobody pays her for that work. On Saturdays, she helps at an animal shelter because she loves animals. That is volunteer work.

Look at the work being done

A person caring for children at home is working. A person helping at a food bank is working, too. To notice work, ask what the person does and who it helps. Then ask whether the person gets paid. These are two different things to find out.

You might enjoy plants, animals, building, drawing, or numbers. Things you like can help you discover jobs. Things you do well can give you clues, too.

Interests and strengths

An interest is something you like and want to learn about. A strength is something you do well. Being patient, careful, kind, or good at solving puzzles can be strengths.

An interest and a strength are different. You might love drawing and still be learning how to draw. Practice can help you grow a skill in something you enjoy.

Follow four steps

1. Name something you enjoy.
2. Name something you are good at.
3. Think of jobs that use both.
4. Ask what you would need to learn for a job.

If you love animals, you could find out about vets, zookeepers, or dog groomers. If you love building, you could ask about builders, carpenters, or engineers. There can be several jobs linked to one interest.

Follow Ava's idea

Ava loves plants. She is patient and careful. She thinks of jobs with plants: farmer, gardener, and florist. A florist arranges flowers.

Ava asks what a farmer needs to know. She learns that soil, water, and weather matter. She can start finding out about plants by growing beans in a cup.

Ava has linked an interest, a strength, a job, and something to learn. She has not finished learning for that job yet. She has found a place to begin.

What matters to a worker?

People think about more than what they enjoy. Some want to help sick people. Others want to care for the planet, earn enough to support their family, or work close to home. These things can shape their choices.

Keep discovering

Jobs are for people of every gender. A man can be a nurse, and a woman can be a firefighter. Learning the skills matters.

You may not know about a beekeeper, an animator who draws cartoons, or someone who tests new toys. Asking grown-ups about their jobs can help you discover more. You do not have to choose your job now. Your interests and strengths can change as you grow. Many grown-ups change jobs, too.

A baker makes bread. A family eats it. Those two actions help you spot the people who provide goods and the people who use them.

Producers and consumers

A producer makes goods or gives services. A farmer grows food. A toy maker makes toys. A doctor and a hairdresser give services, so they are producers, too.

A consumer buys or uses goods and services. When you eat an apple, ride a bus, or read a library book, you are a consumer. You do not have to pay for it yourself. A child who eats lunch is a consumer even when a grown-up bought the food.

Buyers and sellers

A buyer pays money to get a good or service. A seller offers a good or service for money. These words help describe what happens when something is bought and sold.

One person can have more than one role. A baker is a producer while baking. The same baker is a consumer while buying and using shoes.

Follow a lemonade stand

Mia buys lemons and sugar. At the store, she is a buyer and consumer of those goods.

Next, Mia makes lemonade and offers it for sale. She is now a producer and seller. Her neighbor pays for a cup and drinks the lemonade. The neighbor is a buyer and consumer.

The role changes with the action. Mia does not stay only a buyer for the whole day.

People depend on each other

Consumers need people to make goods and give services. Producers who sell their work need buyers. If nobody bought the baker's bread, the baker could not earn money from selling it. Without bakers, families who wanted bread would need to bake it themselves or find another way to get it.

Look at what someone does at that moment. Do they make or provide something? Do they use it? Do they pay or offer it for sale? Those actions tell you the role.

The grocery store is a stop on food's trip to you. Most food there starts on a farm. Some fish are caught in rivers, lakes, or the sea.

Steps on the trip

Food is grown or animals are raised. Food is then harvested, which means picked or collected. It is often processed: cleaned, packed, or changed into a new form. It is transported, or moved, and sold at a store or market.

The steps depend on the food. Some food is changed a lot. Other food stays much the same.

Milk from a farm

1. A dairy farmer raises cows and milks them, often with machines.
2. The milk goes into a cold tank.
3. A tanker truck takes it to a dairy.
4. Workers there heat it to kill harmful germs. They put it in jugs or cartons.
5. Refrigerated trucks take it to stores.
6. Store workers put it in coolers, where families buy it.

Milk that needs to stay cold is kept cold on this trip. Refrigerated trucks and store coolers help keep food from spoiling.

Wheat becomes bread

A farmer grows wheat. A machine called a combine harvests the grain. A mill grinds it into flour. At a bakery, workers mix flour with water and yeast. They bake bread. Trucks deliver the loaves to stores.

Think about what has to happen first. There must be wheat before grain can be harvested. There must be flour before the bakery can use it to make bread.

Apples and apple juice

Workers pick apples in an orchard. A packing house washes, sorts, and boxes them. Trucks carry the boxes to stores. The apples have not become a different food.

For apple juice, a factory also presses apples and bottles the juice. Making juice adds a step that changes the apples into a new form.

Many workers help

Farmers, drivers, dairy and factory workers, mill workers, bakers, and store workers all help food reach you. The farmer and baker make goods. Drivers move them, and store workers help sell them. Those are services.

Some food comes a long way. Bananas need warm places to grow. Stores in cold countries can get them from warm countries, often by ship. A store shelf shows the work of people near and far.

Families needed food long ago, just as you do today. Machines and ways to move and store food have changed how many families get it.

Long ago

Before cars, trucks, and electric refrigerators, many families grew much of their food. They planted gardens and fields. Some kept chickens and cows.

Farm work took a lot of work by hand. Horses or oxen pulled plows. Families picked crops by hand. They bought things they could not grow or make, such as salt or sugar, at a general store or market. Sometimes they swapped eggs or butter for other goods.

Food traveled by wagon, boat, or train. Much fresh food came from nearby farms.

Keeping food longer

People dried, salted, smoked, or canned foods to keep them from spoiling. Cool cellars helped store vegetables. Some homes had iceboxes, which held large blocks of ice to keep food cool. An ice delivery worker brought fresh blocks as the ice melted.

Changes today

Tractors and combines help farmers do work that once took many people. Trucks, trains, ships, and planes can move food over long distances. Refrigerators and refrigerated trucks help keep fresh food cold.

These changes let stores sell foods from many places through the year. They also change jobs. Homes with electric refrigerators no longer need ice delivered for an icebox. Driving a refrigerated truck is a newer kind of work.

Compare bread

The need for food stays the same. The work and the way of getting food can change.

Old and new ways can exist together

Some families still grow vegetables, keep chickens, and bake bread. Farmers' markets still sell food from farms nearby. People did not all change at once. A family today can use a refrigerator and grow its own food at the same time.

Sometimes you can have one thing you want, but not everything. You might have time to visit the park or a party, but not both.

What is limited?

Money, time, and things are limited. There is only so much of each. People want many things. When there is not enough for everything people want, we call that scarcity.

Scarcity does not mean there is nothing. A playground can have swings and still have too few for everyone who wants a turn.

Three ways to spot scarcity

A family has only so much money. After paying for food and a home, there may be a little left for wants, or none. The family must choose.

Time can run out even when money is not the problem. If the park visit and party happen at the same time, you cannot spend that time at both places.

Try the playground

There are 3 swings and 5 children who want to swing. Three children can use the swings first. That leaves 2 children waiting. The group can take turns.

The limited thing is the number of swings. Waiting and taking turns are ways to handle the choice of who goes first.

Grown-ups and groups choose, too

A town has money for a new playground or a library roof repair this year. It cannot pay for both. Its leaders must choose how to use that money.

A farmer has one field. The farmer chooses whether to plant corn or beans in it this year. Producers face choices as they do their work.

Even someone with lots of money has limited time. Nobody can do every activity or be in every place at once.

What you give up

Choosing one activity means missing another, at least for now. If you spend the afternoon at the park, you miss the party. Saying what you gave up helps explain the choice. The other activity might be possible another day.

A careful choice starts with thinking about what matters. You can choose between a need and a want, or between two things you would enjoy.

Use these steps

1. Name the things you could choose.
2. Ask which are needs and which are wants.
3. Take care of needs first.
4. For two wants, think about what matters most to you. What would you use or enjoy longer?
5. Choose. Say why and name what you are giving up.

You can use “because” to explain your reason. “We chose the boots because Jada needs dry feet” connects the choice with the need.

A need comes first

Jada's old rain boots leak. Dad has enough money for new boots or a board game. Jada needs dry feet on rainy walks to school. The board game would be fun, but it is a want.

Dad buys the boots. He gives up buying the game for now. The choice takes care of a need first.

Two wants

Leo can get a soccer ball or a comic book. He plays soccer with friends every day. He reads comics only sometimes. Both are wants.

Leo thinks about how much he would use each thing. He chooses the ball and gives up the comic book. A friend who loves reading might choose the comic book. Different likes can lead to different careful choices.

Groups can decide together

A class has time for gardening or drawing. Fourteen children vote for gardening, and 10 vote for drawing. More children chose gardening, so the class gardens. Drawing waits for another day.

A vote is one way a group can choose. The group still gives up doing the other activity at that time.

Waiting is a choice

Sometimes you decide to wait for a want. Giving it up today does not mean you can never get it. A choice is not wrong just because something has to wait. Think about what matters, then explain the reason: “I chose this because…”