To celebrate Valentines Day we played a tax game! Before diving into the American Revolution in Social Studies I thought it was important for students to understand the idea behind taxation.

The King called out laws and our tax collectors collected the taxes. Students learned an important lesson about taxing! The taxation laws put on the colonists were VERY unfair! After the game I asked students to reflect by asking them the following questions . . .

• What was so unfair about the way the game was played?
• How could King George III handled the taxation laws differently in order to make it a more fair process?

The student responses shocked me! Most of my students replied saying that the King should have taxed the people of Great Britain or used his own money to help pay his war debts.

All in all, this was a great activity and helped keep my students in engaged and excited about our learning on a very candy filled holiday!