Group Visits

Playing to Learn is SERIOUS FUN at The Iowa Children's Museum!

The ICM currently offers three different types of fun-filled, educational field trips for your class or group to enjoy!

Focused Field Trip

For more information about specific Focused Field Trips, please visit the links below. To reserve a focused field trip for your group, please call Nicole Palmer at 319.625.6255 ext. 216 or email at npalmer@theicm.org.

MoneyWorks!   

MoneyWorks is designed to improve the financial literacy of our youth. It is offered FREE OF CHARGE to third through sixth grade classes through the generous support of the Wachovia Foundation.

This focused field trip takes place in the CityWorks gallery where students become wage earners and consumers and create a family budget based on their earnings and expenses. The Iowa Children's Museum is working to increase students' financial literacy and help teach children to become financially responsible adults.

MoneyWorks reflects the following Education Standards:

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
SCARCITY

• People make choices because they can't have everything they want. Whenever a choice is made, something is given up.
• Economic wants are desires that can be satisfied by consuming a good, service or leisure activity.
• Goods are objects that can satisfy people's wants; services are actions that can satisfy people's wants.
• People's choices about what goods and services to buy and consume determine how resources will be used.
• People who make goods and provide services are called producers. People whose wants are satisfied by using goods and services are called consumers.

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
GAIN FROM TRADE

• Exchange is trading goods and services with people for other goods and services or for money.
• People voluntarily exchange goods and services because they expect to be better off after the exchange.

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
MARKETS - PRICE AND QUANTITY DETERMINATION

• A price is what people pay when they buy a good or service and what they receive when they sell a good or service.
• A market exists whenever buyers and sellers exchange goods and services.
• Most people produce and consume. As producers make goods and services, consumers use goods and services.

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
ROLE OF MARKET INSTITUTIONS

• Banks are institutions where people save money and earn interest. Other people use banks to borrow money and pay interest.
• Saving is the part of income not spent on taxes or consumption.

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
ROLE OF MONEY

• Money is anything widely accepted as final payment for goods and services.
• Money makes trading easier by replacing barter with transactions involving currency, coins or checks.
• People consume goods and services, not money. Money is useful primarily because it can be used to buy goods and services.

National Social Science Standards - Economics (Grade 4 Benchmarks)
ROLE OF RESOURCES IN DETERMINING INCOME

• Labor is a human resource that is used to produce goods and services.
• People can earn income by exchanging their human resources (physical or mental work) for wages or salaries.