Activity library

Auction

30 min

AuctionGame

This is a class exercise where participants learn firsthand how the increase in money supply impacts pricing. The intent is for participants to understand monetary inflation (not price inflation). In this activity we are using Monopoly money to represent the total supply of money in the economy. Explain to the students that in the real economy there are many forms of money: Physical currency, such as coins and paper bills Checking accounts Savings accounts Money market accounts Certificates of deposit Give an overview of auctions and how they work. The most common type is where products go to the highest bidder. Give examples your students may have seen in shows or movies, (e.g., art or antique auctions, cattle, property, etc.) Finally, there are cool products to bid on, i.e., candy bars. Students who win the auctions using Monopoly money get real things!

Back In My Day

20 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

MatchingCreative craftDiscussion

Students match older analogue technologies with their modern digital equivalents. Through visual matching, colouring, and discussion, learners explore how tools evolve over time and how innovation changes the way people live, work, and communicate. The activity builds early awareness of technological progress and time-based change.

Consensus

45 min

GameSimulation

This is a class exercise where participants learn firsthand how difficult synchronizing actions is in a group without a defined leader. The intent is for participants to understand how agreement (i.e., consensus) is achieved in Bitcoin. In this activity you are going to facilitate three scenarios. In the first scenario, students track a simple set of transactions between three people. An analogy is friends lending each other money. It is simple enough that many will be able to do it without pen and paper. The second scenario involves seven entities (a bank plus six people). ONE student is designated as the official tracker for the whole class. The third and last scenario repeats the prior one with an important change: this time, ALL students track. No one can do any special favors (e.g., the banker cannot help his friend). This sets up the transition to discuss Bitcoin. Everyone can track the Bitcoin ledger for themselves, yet we are able to reach agreement (consensus) without a banker or other centralized tracker.

Cypherpunks Write Code

45–60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Creative craftExperiential learning

Students are introduced to the idea of codes as a way to hide and protect information. Through a hands-on craft, learners build a simple cipher wheel and use it to encode and decode Bitcoin-related vocabulary. The activity combines fine motor skills, logical thinking, and early cryptographic concepts while reinforcing new terminology in a playful and concrete way.

Discussion and evaluation of Bitcoin wallets

DiscussionSorting / classification

Learners compare the wallets listed on bitcoin.org against the criteria covered in the chapter, choose the one that fits their own needs, and defend the choice to the group.

Energy Economy

35 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

ReflectionSorting / classification

Students explore how their energy changes throughout the day by plotting common activities on a shared class graph and a personal Energy Tracker. By visualizing energy highs and lows across time, learners build early self-awareness about effort, rest, and how energy is spent. This activity lays the foundation for later lessons on time preference, value, and intentional decision-making.

Exploring the Mempool

30 min

Experiential learningDiscussion

This activity exposes students to a free and open-source tool that does not require technical skills to use. It is useful for Bitcoiners at all levels, from beginner to experienced. In this activity you walk students through basic Bitcoin information available at mempool.space. Time permitting, you can show them other tools available, like the mining or Lightning features. Artistic blocks are a way to make the discussion more interesting for your non-technical students. A few options are included in this guide.

Final Discussion, How Did Your Perspective Change?

DiscussionReflection

Learners answer the four questions from the very first activity again, compare their new answers with the originals, and decide what their next step is.

Fractional Reserve Banking

35 min

GameRole-play

This is a class exercise exploring individual actions by people and banks using the practice of fractional reserve banking. The intent is to experience firsthand how fractional reserve banking increases the money supply. Explain to the students that this is a role-playing game. They will either be a person (a depositor) or a bank (a lender). Then explain you, the teacher, are the central bank. You will set the fractional reserve percentage. The flow of the activity follows this pattern: A person deposits money in a bank. That bank keeps the minimum amount based on the reserve percentage and lends the rest to another person. The total supply of money as increased.

From Problem to Protocol

45–60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Story timeDiscussionReflection

Students listen to the story of Satoshi and the Genesis of Bitcoin. Through guided pauses and discussion, they connect the narrative to prior lessons on value, scarcity, time and energy, analogue vs digital systems, and safety and privacy. The teacher uses a printed “white paper” prop to dramatize the moment Satoshi presents his idea to the world. Students reflect on how Bitcoin began as a proposal, required hard work to build, and depends on participants to keep the network alive.

Gatekeepers

30 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

DiscussionSorting / classificationReflection

Students explore the difference between public and private spaces and information through guided discussion and visual examples. Using familiar everyday situations, learners practice classifying what is usually public or private and reflect on the idea that individuals can choose what information they keep private or share. The activity builds early awareness of privacy, boundaries, and personal responsibility.

Generate SHA 256 Hash

Experiential learning

Learners hash words and sentences of their own choosing in an online SHA256 generator and see for themselves that a hash is a one-way digital fingerprint.

Going, Going, Gone!

45 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Role-playAuction

In this activity, students take part in a classroom auction using “shells” (or tokens) as a simple form of money. The class runs a live auction where everyday objects are sold one at a time to the highest bidder. As prices emerge in real time, students observe how scarcity (limited items and limited money) and demand (how many people want the same item) shape what something “costs.” A guided reflection links their auction outcomes to core ideas in value, exchange, and price formation, emphasizing that prices are not fixed and that different people value the same object differently.

Invent The Future

45–60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Creative craftPresentationDiscussion

Students imagine the future of technology by inventing a new product or system and pitching it in a “Dragons’ Den” format. Learners reflect on how technology evolves, identify real problems to solve, and practice explaining ideas clearly. The activity encourages creativity, critical thinking, and communication while reinforcing the idea that innovation responds to needs over time.

It's Mine!

45 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

SimulationGame

In this activity, learners simulate Bitcoin mining using playing cards as hashes and vocabulary words as transactions. Teams flip cards to find matching pairs. When they find two identical cards, they say “It’s mine.” A valid pair gives them access to the mempool, where they collect one Bitcoin vocabulary word. Words are grouped into blocks and only count after confirmation. The number of cards in the mining pool represents difficulty and is adjusted between rounds. Final scores are calculated by counting the total number of letters in confirmed words stored in each team’s wallet.

Iterative Barter Game

60 min

GameSimulation

This is a class exercise intended to increase students’ understanding of bartering concepts. Participation will help them see how money naturally develops in free markets. Explain to the students that this is a bartering game. If there are 10 or fewer students in the class, they will play as individuals. For larger classes, divide the students into four teams. This activity has three rounds. To begin, assign students to one of four “markets”: CLUB-MAKERS, SPADE-MAKERS, HEARTS-MAKERS, DIAMOND-MAKERS. Give a set of cards to its respective suit-group or distribute evenly if playing individuals. For example, those students in spade-makers group should start with spades, etc.

Lightning Relay Race

45 min

Experiential learningDiscussion

This is a hands-on exercise where students send and receive real sats using the Lightning Network. Explain to students the Lightning wallet download and setup process. The instructions for installing a wallet are in the Lightning chapter. Reassure them you will guide them through the installation prompts, like creating a new wallet versus restoring an existing one. Once everyone has a wallet, you will start to send sats to each other! The goal is for each student to both receive and send sats. For large classes, divide students into groups. They will send sats to everyone within their group.

Money Matters

90 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

SimulationRole-playExperiential learning

Money Matters is a classroom economy simulation where each learner operates from a personal Home base. Each student begins with an individual HOME tile displaying their name, challenge card, and financial objective. Learners move through a shared economic system using dice-based movement rules to earn, save, invest, borrow, and trade. The economy is introduced progressively before opening into autonomous role-play, where learners pursue individual goals under shared rules, time constraints, and access limits. Optional extensions allow the system to scale into a richer economy with businesses, infrastructure costs, and education.

Nostr

50–60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

SimulationCreative craftGame

Building on earlier activities about trust, message passing, and interception, students now compare open information transfer with encoded communication. Learners first experience how relaying information requires trusting intermediaries and how messages can be overheard or altered. They then introduce cipher wheels to protect messages, discovering that information can remain private even when passed through untrusted or public channels. Pre-requisites 4.2 - Telephone 4.3 - Cypherpunks Write Code

Satoshi, Where Are You?

60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Creative writingExperiential learningRole-play

In this lesson, students construct a story using four independent ideas written on sticky notes. They begin by recalling the earlier story in which Satoshi disappeared and speculate about where he might have gone. Students then generate four ideas from guided prompts and organize them into a beginning, middle, and end structure. Through structured sharing and a sticky note swap, they revise their narratives to include new constraints. The lesson concludes with either a written or illustrated final draft, or a short dramatic role play using a class-generated story arc.

Setting Up & Recovering a Wallet

Experiential learning

Learners put wallet theory into practice on a phone: either creating a new self-custodial wallet and backing up its recovery phrase, or restoring a wallet from a recovery phrase the educator hands out. Now that we have a better understanding of Bitcoin wallets and the differences between them, we'll see how to use one in practice. For this example, we'll create a mobile wallet directly on our smartphone. If students do not have smartphones, the educator will provide one for students to borrow. There are two options for this activity.

Ship Rekt

60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

SimulationRole-playGame

In this 60 minute whole class simulation, students roleplay as shipwrecked survivors who must secure essential resources to “survive” a week on a desert island. Using playing cards to represent tools and supplies, learners begin with pure barter, practicing negotiation while encountering common trade barriers such as surplus, scarcity, and the coincidence of wants. A timed “Shell Hunt” then introduces commodity money, as students collect tokens that can be used to simplify exchange. With shells in circulation, the class enters a guided marketplace where students set prices, respond to supply and demand, and experience price discovery. The activity culminates in budgeting and a structured auction or trade round for “treasure” wishlist items, bridging to why money exists.

Smart Choices

60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

DiscussionDrawing / visualCreative craftGame

Students explore how everyday choices affect long-term outcomes by connecting time preference to food, health, work, play, and education. Through discussion, a visual time-preference axis, creative superhero design, and a lighthearted comparison game, learners reflect on how small daily decisions build strength, focus, and future success.

That's Not Fair (Story Time)

30–40 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Story timeDiscussion

Students listen to a teacher-read story in which characters receive rewards that may or may not match their effort. At key moments, the teacher pauses the story to invite discussion and judgment. Learners reflect on fairness, effort, luck, and unequal outcomes, building moral reasoning and vocabulary that supports later lessons on work, reward, and Proof of Work.

That's Not Fair!

60 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

GameDiscussionExperiential learning

Students explore the idea of fairness by participating in a sequence of short games that distribute rewards in different ways. Through direct experience, learners compare unfair systems, random systems, effort-based systems, and Proof of Work. Emotional responses are welcomed and used to support structured reflection. The activity builds a foundational understanding of fairness, reward, and equal opportunity.

Time Preference

20 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Story timeDiscussionSorting / classification

Students explore the concept of time preference through a familiar story, The Three Little Pigs. By listening to the story, discussing character choices, and comparing building materials, learners reflect on short-term convenience versus long-term strength. The activity helps children understand that effort and patience can lead to better outcomes later.

Time preference

Experiential learningDiscussionReflection

Each learner chooses between a small sweet now and a larger reward at the end of the class, then the group discusses what drove the decision and what time preference means.

Transactions in Action

30 min

GameRole-play

This is a cooperative exercise simplifying the basic roles of people involved in a Bitcoin transaction: sender, recipient, miner, and node operator. In this activity you are going to facilitate transaction scenarios, for example "ALICE SENDS 1 BITCOIN TO BOB". Wallet addresses are simplified to just colors. Sats are simplified to just chips or coins. You will walk the class through a couple of scenarios where everything works well. The sender has enough sats. The sender has approved (signed) the transaction. Then you will walk through different ways transactions are not valid: not enough sats, transaction not signed, invalid wallet. The key point is that you cannot cheat Bitcoin because the ledger is protected by a network of miners and node runners. TIP: You can simplify the activity further by just having node runners if explaining the difference between miners and node runners distracts from the main point of the activity, transactions in action. TIP: Depending on the age and knowledge level of your class, consider rotating students through the different roles.

Vote With Your Feet

20–25 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

DebateExperiential learning

Students physically position themselves in the classroom to show whether they prefer older or newer technologies. By moving, debating, and explaining their choices, learners compare analogue and digital tools, consider trade-offs, and practice respectful disagreement. The activity reinforces prior learning on technological evolution while increasing engagement through movement.

What is value?

45 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

DiscussionCreative craft

Students explore the concept of value by identifying everyday items from their own lives and positioning them on a shared visual chart. Through guided discussion and a collaborative wall-based activity, learners compare personal value with price and reflect on how value can change depending on perspective. The activity builds foundational understanding of value, price, and scarcity through discussion, movement, and visual thinking.

Wire Tap

40–50 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

SimulationDiscussionExperiential learning

Students explore how information changes depending on who carries it and who is allowed to hear it. Through a series of short message-passing games with changing rules, learners experience trust, mistakes, and intentional interference firsthand. Reflection focuses on how messages can change, leak, or be protected, and who should decide who gets access to information.

Work, Rest & Play

45 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Experiential learningReflection

Students explore how everyday activities can be grouped into work, rest, and play. Through a shared classification activity and individual routine mapping, learners reflect on how they use their time across a day. The activity builds early awareness of balance, energy, and intentional time use.

Worth It

45 min · Bitcoin for Juniors

Sorting / classificationDiscussion

Students explore the meaning of price by cutting out everyday items and placing them along a shared price line from cheap to expensive. Through comparison, discussion, and teacher guidance, learners develop a concrete understanding that price is the amount of money something costs and that prices can vary widely between items.