on the town

1. To encourage creativity in seeking affordable entertainment

2. To develop familiarity with search techniques and community resources

Introduce money management as it pertains to being out on the town with the following discussion points:

Define entertainment as a class. Given that the idea of entertainment might be quite individual, encourage creativity and thinking outside of the box.
Brainstorm the favourite entertainment activities of the class and write them all on the board.
Where do you go to find events and activities in your town?
Ask students to consider a reasonable weekly entertainment budget.

Newscast

Length: 45 minutes
Materials: On the Town Student Handout, brochures and pamphlets from a local tourism office for ideas

In this activity, have groups of students (2–3), brainstorm two economical entertainment activities of choice. Ideas may include anything such as bowling or a walk in the park with an ice cream.
Using their On the Town Student Handout students then record their ideas as well as the following: activity cost, transportation cost, food cost and other costs.
Once students have completed their ideas they can come up with a clever and creative way to present the ideas to the class in the form of an Entertainment Newscast.

Cheap fun

Length: 45 minutes
Materials: On the Town Student Handout, brochures and pamphlets from a local tourism office for ideas

In this activity, break students into seven groups (one for each day of the week) and have them find a weekly discounted activity within the community that takes place on their assigned day. Students can record their idea in the Cheap Activity For Our Day section of the On the Town Student Handout.
Once this is complete, have all of the groups write down their activity on the board. The students can then fill in the Cheap Fun for the Week section of their On the Town Student Handout, which will serve as a resource of affordable entertainment for every day of the week!

Extension

Film it. If students were really feeling creative they could do an On-location Entertainment Newscast, film it and show it to the class.
Try it out. Within a given time period, have students try both suggested activities and modify their original idea according to the “fun factor” and budget.

Collaborative Feedback

Discuss the obstacles in finding discounted entertainment.
Discuss what some of the best resources for finding cheap entertainment in your local were?

Play an entertainment or “What’s up in your community” segment of your local news for students to give them a better idea of what a Newscast could look like.