Before gaining their wealth, the most savvy business minds had to start somewhere on their way to achieving greatness within the financial world. Who knows, the next mover and shaker may have been in attendance at a Craig elementary school this week.

The second-grade classes of Sandrock Elementary School hosted an Economics Carnival on Thursday afternoon. The event was a way for students to show what they had learned in classes from teachers Shawn Steele and Alli LeWarne about all that is involved in economics.

“All through January, they’ve been learning about producers, consumers, goods and services, natural resources, capital resources, all of those things in a carnival setting,” Steele said. “They each have to run a booth and understand how all those things apply in order to make money.”

In lieu of actual cash, kids were given tickets to use at each other’s booths, which included games such as ring toss and bowling, as well as face-painting and food.

Young customers needed to be able to budget their tickets wisely, while those in charge of the booths were responsible for providing good service and keeping supply and demand in mind for their admission prices.

Student Ryan Booker charged two tickets for his beanbag game, Corn Toss, instead of the price of a single ticket other booths required, finding almost too much success with his higher fee.

“It’s a pretty easy game, so everybody won,” he said. “That’s why we’re out of prizes.”

Aimee Sanchez, who ran a Bingo game, said there was a friendly competition between students to see whose booth was the most popular.

“You want to have your booth be better and have more tickets than other people,” she said.

Although each kid came up with their own ideas, parents helped a little with the construction of booths.

Justin Pike gave his son, Noah, a hand with his fishing booth, which used an aquatic-themed shower curtain hanging from PVC pipe, across which people could cast their line to win a prize.

“It really gives them a good idea of how economics works and how things like this are put together and how to socialize with people,” Justin said. “Everything’s a learning experience with them at this age, but this is a good one.”

Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com.