Market Day 2024: Context-based Learning with Little Caliphs Kalam Khalifah

How easily do you think children can understand the concept of money? Even as adults, money can be quite an abstract concept for us to explain to the little ones. What better way to do this than to take them shopping and have them roleplay as buyers and sellers?

Market Day is all about teaching children how to be responsible with their money whether when shopping for groceries or buying some delicious treats. Children learn faster in real-life situations where they can apply what they have learned in class. This is called context-based learning.

Shopping for Groceries

The day before the main event, we brought up to 20 of our 6 Years students from each kindergarten to go and experience grocery shopping for themselves. Firstly, they had to understand what they needed to ‘open their stalls’. Everything from ingredients to packaging must be accounted for with the help of their class teacher. Then, equipped with a list, trolley and money in hand, they explored the store looking for the best deals. 

Budgeting, comparing prices, reading the expiration dates, and checking the freshness of raw ingredients are all parts and parcels of grocery shopping. Each student was given the chance to pick up an item and some even interact with the friendly cashiers during payment. With the teachers’ guidance, they successfully completed their shopping and filled up their trolleys with everything they needed to open their stalls the next day.

Buying and Selling

As 6 Years Students roleplayed as the sellers, the younger students played the buyers. Through these transactions, the 4 and 5 Years students learned to spend responsibly based on their allowance of RM5. So, they needed to make sure they bought what they really wanted to try. In return, the 6 Years students applied how to do simple subtractions when giving balance. 

Besides mathematics, Market Day was also an event where students learn basic phrases related to buying and selling. There was a large variety of treats sold at the market and the students could choose whatever their heart desired. 

On top of the dedication from the teachers, Market Day would also not be possible without the amazing cooperation from the parents. Therefore, thank you to all the parents who took part in the preparation of the delicious and nutritious food!