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Activity: The Grocery Budget Detective — Level 5

Level 5 - The Solver General 9 min
A ASK K KNOW U UNDERSTAND U USE U UPGRADE
🎯 Activity

The Grocery Budget Detective

Level 5 — The Solver | Ages 9–11 | Life Skills + Math | ⏱️ 15–20 minutes

This is a real-world activity. You will visit a store (or use an online grocery app), compare deals, and prove you found the best value — not just the cheapest price.

📋 What You Need

  • 20 units of play money (or real money with adult permission) — your budget
  • A grocery store or online grocery app
  • This activity sheet (print or copy to notebook)
  • A calculator (or use your brain — even better!)

🧠 Before You Start

Remember: Cheapest total price ≠ best deal. Calculate the unit price (price per piece, per cup, or per gram) to find the real winner.

🎯 Your Mission

Buy snacks for 6 friends (7 people total including you). Each person needs 2 snacks + 1 drink. You have 20 units. Find the best deals without going over budget.

1 Scout the Store

Walk through the snack aisle (or scroll the app). Find at least 3 different options for snacks and 2 options for drinks. Write them down with prices and sizes.

🐥

Think: Don’t grab the first thing you see. Look for different pack sizes of the same item — that’s where the tricks hide!

My findings:

Snack Option A:
Price & size:
Snack Option B:
Price & size:
Snack Option C:
Price & size:
Drink Option A:
Price & size:
Drink Option B:
Price & size:
2 Calculate Unit Prices

For each item, calculate: Unit Price = Total Price ÷ Amount You Get

Option A unit price:
Option B unit price:
Option C unit price:
Drink A unit price:
Drink B unit price:

👉 Which item had the biggest surprise? (The one that LOOKED cheap but wasn’t)

Surprise item:
Why it tricked me:
3 Build Your Real Shopping List

You need 14 snacks (2 per person × 7 people) and 7 drinks (1 per person × 7 people). Pick your items and calculate total cost.

I chose (snack):
Quantity needed:
Total snack cost:
I chose (drink):
Quantity needed:
Total drink cost:
GRAND TOTAL:
Money left:

👉 Did you stay under 20 units? If not, what will you change?

Under budget? Yes/No:
If no, my fix:
4 The Single vs. Pack Trap Test

Find the same item sold as a single piece and in a multi-pack. Compare the unit price for each.

Item name:
Single piece unit price:
Multi-pack unit price:
How much more expensive is the single?

👉 When is buying a single piece actually smarter than buying the pack?

Single wins when:
5 Capture Evidence

Take a photo of your shopping list, your calculator work, or the price tags you compared. (Ask an adult for permission if photographing in a store.)

📷
Photo upload area — or paste photo in your notebook
🎤 Optional: Record a 30-second voice note explaining which item tricked you the most and why.

⭐ Activity Reflection

The biggest surprise I found:
I will use unit pricing when:
One thing stores do to trick shoppers:

🧠 Thinking Pause

  • I calculated unit prices instead of just looking at total cost
  • I spotted a “fake deal” where the bigger pack was not actually better
  • I considered when convenience is worth paying more

Keep Exploring

More missions at your level

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Challenge: The Number Lock Heist — Level 5

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Worksheets

Mission: The Gravity Detective — Level 5

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Worksheets

Mission: The Smart Shopper — Level 5

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Practice builds memory. Understanding builds intelligence. AKUUU builds thinkers.

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