Market Day… a staple on our Vacation Care program for over ten years now…But what is it? “It’s a big competition that you can win” – Jasmine
“We get to sell things to the other children” – Liam
“If you make food, the Educators will always buy it and you can make a lot of money”- Anonymous Source, 8 years old.
Well, that clears things up, right?
Market Day Explained: Children form groups with friends or peers with similar interests and create a product to market and sell. They have to design signs, price lists and of course their product of choice. After several hours of hard work, all children & Educators are provided with “$15 Jinda Dollars”.
They are responsible for choosing how and where they spend their money. They also need to negotiate with their group to ensure their stall is manned at all times. The group with the most money at the end of the selling wins!
We’ve always known our children had an entrepreneurial spirit, we regularly see stores pop up across Before and After School Care. However, ten years later, and we are still amazed at the ingenuity of the children. This year we had bey blade battle stations, flower stalls, food stalls, art stalls and jewelry stalls. We were bigger than any major shopping centre.
As the morning unfolded, we took note of a range of skills the children were employing– team- work, creativity, money management, bartering, budgeting, advertising, communication, the list is endless. The teacher’s may have been taking a break, but there was ample amount of learning happening these holidays. And the best part… it was all child directed! Sounds like an easy day for the Educators, but behind every trusty stall is the heavy lifting required to move tables, chairs and retrieve extra stock from out back.
The winner this year was the holder of the “Scrumptious Scrolls” stall. And we’re not surprised after
witnessing him sell the product.
Child one: “I’ll have one scroll please” Stall Holder: “That will be $4 please” Child one: “What? That’s so expensive”
Stall Holder – “So, they’re good scrolls and you’ll buy one anyway”. (He wasn’t wrong!)
You’ll definitely see this on the program again in 2021, so keep your eyes peeled. Maybe this year, parents will be invited to come and spend some Jinda Dollars and join in the sales frenzy.