'Buy One Get One Free' Lesson Plan

Understanding special offers in supermarkets and so forth is an important numeracy and life skill. Students encounter various promotions in stores such as two for the price of one, buy one get one free, and half price. Understanding these and being able to compare values is a vital math skill.

The Value of Promotional Leaflets

Supermarkets are constantly producing special offer literature that is perfect for classroom use: brochures are packed with bright colours and visuals. Eye-catching key information such as ‘Half price’ , ‘Was’, ‘Now’ and ‘Ends this weekend’ is repeated with different products, making it easy for the youngsters to absorb.

Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) Pairs Game

This fun activity is designed to be used in a one-to-one teaching situation, or with one adult supervising two pairs of players. It can also be adapted for whole class use (see below).

Aim

This game practises halving and doubling, which should have been covered previously. By the end of the game, pupils should understand that with some purchases you can save money by buying two of the same item.

Preparation

Next time you are shopping, look for promotional leaflets with as many B.O.G.O.F. offers as you can find. Take home two of these leaflets. Cut out all the B.O.G.O.F. offers in both leaflets so that you have a matching pair for each offer. Glue them onto backing cards.

Explain the concept of B.O.G.O.F. by discussing a few of the cards with the pupils. How much is one item? What if you buy two? Is buying two cheaper? Is that a good deal?

How to Play

Play in twos (or threes if necessary). Place all cards face down. Player one takes two cards and turns them over. If they match, the player wins that pair and puts it aside. If not, s/he replaces them face down on the table. Player two now tries to find a matching pair. Encourage learners to remember where certain cards are to maximise their chances of winning. Take turns until all the cards have been won. The winner is the player with the most pairs.

When a pupil gets a pair, get him/her to do the following:

• Say how much one item costs
• Say how much two items cost. If the pupil makes a mistake and doubles the first figure, explain the concept of B.O.G.O.F.

A Whole Class Activity

Obviously you need to produce more cards. Make the extra preparation in terms of more cutting and sticking worthwhile by laminating your cards. In this way they can be re-used.

Divide the class into groups of three with one youngster playing the ‘teacher’ by asking the price of items (they usually enjoy playing the authority figure too!). Three games should be played, with each student playing twice and monitoring one game.

Extension Work

Discuss why B.O.G.O.F offers happen – to encourage shoppers to use the supermarket that has them. Do pupils think B.O.G.O.F. is a good offer? What about other things in supermarkets – is everything cheap? More able pupils will enjoy learning about the concept of ‘loss leaders’ (these are products or services that is sold at a loss to help companies generate new customers).

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