Language Arts, Reading, Science, Life Science, Social Studies

Grade 1- 3

Objective

Students will learn about producers and consumers. They will also learn about how products become available to consumers.

Directions

Producer to Consumer Facts

• A producer is someone who grows or makes something to be sold.
• A farmer is a producer.
• A consumer is someone who buys goods.
• Goods are something that have been produced (food, clothing, toys, etc.).
• A factory is a place where workers process resources into goods.
• Factories have special machines to process "goods."
• Factories sell goods to markets or stores.
• Trucks transport goods from the factory to the markets and stores.
• People shop at the market or stores to buy "goods" they need.

Producer to Consumer Fun Activities

1. Visit a farm and find out what is produced there.
2. Tour a factory. Learn about what they make and where it goes.
3. Go on a scavenger hunt at a local store and identify products made from milk.
4. Have a tasting party of dairy foods. Be sure to include things like cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.
5. Graph your favorite milk products.
6. Use the pattern activity sheets to make a cow mobile.

Resources

• copies of the little book entitled Producer to Consumer (see the activity page link below)
• copies of the little book entitled Producer to Consumer: Trees (see the activity page link below)
• copies of the patterns for the cow (see the activity page link below)
• white construction paper
• 4-12 inch pieces of yarn for each student
• Gibbons, Gail. The Milk Makers. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1987.
• Kalman, Bobbie. Hurray for Dairy Farming! Crabtree Publishing, 1997.
• Peterson, Cris. Extra Cheese, Please!: Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza. Boyds Mills, 1994.
• Sloat, Teri. Farmer Brown Sheers His Sheep. DK Publishing, 2000.