Needs and wants for kids is one of the first "money and life" ideas a child can really understand. A need is something we must have to live and stay healthy, like water, food, clothes and a home. A want is something that makes life more fun but that we can live without, like a teddy bear, ice cream or a kite. In Hindi, a need is ज़रूरत and a want is इच्छा. This page turns the idea into a short sorting game: your child taps a picture and drops it in the Need bin or the Want bin, and hears every word in Hindi and English.
What your child learns in this needs vs wants game
The game uses sixteen everyday pictures. The needs are water, food, a home, clothes, bread, milk, a bed to sleep and soap. The wants are a teddy bear, sweets, ice cream, a balloon, a kite, a yo-yo, a new ball and a biscuit. We chose them so the answer is clear to a young child: you cannot live without water, but you can live without a balloon.
Along the way your child practises:
- Sorting by an idea, not a look. Earlier sorting games ask "which is red?" or "which is big?". Here the question is "do we need it to live?". That is a bigger thinking step, and it suits ages 4 to 6.
- Vocabulary in two languages: पानी (water), खाना (food), घर (home), कपड़े (clothes), खिलौना (toy) and more.
- The first money lesson: families spend on needs first, and wants come after. This is the root of saving and waiting, which older children meet in school EVS and social studies.
- Gratitude: noticing that food, water and a bed are things someone works to give us.
How to play the needs and wants sorting game
- A few pictures appear at the top, and two bins sit below: the Need bin with a heart and the Want bin with a star-eyes face.
- Your child taps a picture. Golu says its name, for example "Milk, दूध".
- Your child taps a bin. If the choice is right, the picture drops in with a happy sound.
- If not, Golu never says "wrong". First he names the picture again, then the correct bin glows, and then Golu's finger 👆 points to it. Your child always finishes with success.
- There are three rounds. In the grown-up settings, ages 2-4 get two pictures per bin and older children get three, so a round stays short.
- At the end a marble drops into the Goli Jar, and Golu gives a real-world mission: point to one thing you need and one thing you want at home.
The अ+A button in the header sets the language order: Hindi then English, English then Hindi, or one language only. Calm sound, calm motion, captions and high contrast are in the settings behind the grown-up check.
What age is right for needs and wants?
Most school boards bring in needs and wants in UKG or class 1, often as "basic needs: food, clothes and shelter" in EVS. You will also hear the Hindi phrase रोटी, कपड़ा और मकान, which is exactly the list of needs. The table below shows what to expect at each age.
| Age | What the child can do | How to help |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 | Names the pictures; enjoys dropping things in bins | Play together and just say the words. Do not worry about the idea yet. |
| 3-4 | Starts to notice "we eat food every day, we don't buy a balloon every day" | Use the smaller game (2 per bin) and ask "Can we live without it?" |
| 4-5 | Sorts most pictures correctly and can explain one or two | Ask "why?" after each drop and accept simple answers. |
| 5-6 | Sorts all pictures and brings up tricky cases on their own | Talk about grey areas and link to saving money. |
Children under 2 are better off with a grown-up and real objects than with a screen. For older children, play one short session together (5-10 minutes) and then take the idea off the screen.
How to teach needs and wants at home in 10 minutes a day
In the kitchen
Put a bottle of water, a packet of rice, a biscuit and a chocolate on the table. Ask your child to make two piles: "things we need" and "things we want". Talk about why the biscuit is in the Want pile even though it is food. We need food to grow, but we do not need biscuits. This is the most common question children ask, and the game agrees: bread and milk are needs, the biscuit and sweets are wants.
At the market or kirana shop
Before you go, make a shopping list with your child: milk, vegetables, soap. At the shop, when your child asks for a toffee, you can say, "That is a want. Let's buy our needs first." Keep the tone friendly, not preachy. Some days the answer can be yes, and you can say so: "We bought all our needs, so today we can have one want."
With a piggy bank
From age 5, a simple गुल्लक (piggy bank) makes the idea real. When your child wants a new ball, count coins together each week until there are enough. Waiting for a want is one of the most useful skills a child can build, and it starts with knowing the difference between needs vs wants.
Picture sorting on paper
Draw two big boxes on a sheet, a heart for needs and a smiling face for wants, just like the bins in the game. Cut pictures from an old magazine or a shop leaflet and let your child glue each one in a box. You can also print this page and use the list below as a guide for a quick needs and wants worksheet of your own.
Needs and wants examples to talk about
| Needs (ज़रूरत) | Wants (इच्छा) | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Juice or cold drink | Which one keeps us alive when we are thirsty? |
| Food (roti, rice, dal) | Sweets and ice cream | Which one helps us grow strong? |
| A home | A bigger TV | Where do we stay safe when it rains? |
| Clothes | A superhero costume | What keeps us warm in winter? |
| A bed to sleep | A teddy bear | Can you sleep without the teddy? (Some children will say no, and that is fine to talk about.) |
| Soap | A balloon | Which one keeps germs away? |
Grey areas are good conversations, not mistakes. A school bag, a doctor's visit or love and care from family are all needs too, even though they are not in the game. Link the idea to food items name in Hindi and English, clothes name for kids and household items name so your child sees the same objects in other games.
Needs and wants in Indian homes and around the world
In many Indian homes, festivals are a natural time to talk about wants. Diwali brings new clothes, sweets and sometimes toys. You can say, "We need clothes every day, but new Diwali clothes are a special want." Children also see community helpers like the farmer, the milkman and the shopkeeper who bring our needs to us, so the topic joins up with thankfulness. Around the world, the same lesson appears in kindergarten social studies as "needs vs wants", often with the list food, water, shelter and clothing.
Feelings, fairness and every kind of child
- No shame about wants. Wants are not bad. Wanting a kite is normal and happy. The lesson is about order and waiting, not about feeling guilty.
- Be gentle about money. If your family is going through a hard time, keep the talk simple: "Right now we are buying needs." Children feel safer when grown-ups sound calm. Our emotions for kids page helps name feelings like disappointment.
- Frustration: if your child keeps putting sweets in the Need bin, laugh together and ask "Could you live on only sweets?" Then move on. Praise effort: "You thought about that one."
- Speech delay or autism: the game works with taps alone, so your child can show understanding without speaking. Use the fewer-choices setting and the same two bins every time. Real objects on a table help many children more than pictures.
- Bilingual homes: use the language button so your child hears the home language first, then the school language.
Pair this game with good habits for kids: turning off the tap and not wasting food are ways of taking care of our needs.
