Year 6 Fairtrade Day
We started the day with a game of the ‘Fair Trade Game’. Parents joined us as the children were split in to 5 countries. Each country was given a pack of resources.
General rules
- Resources can only be purchased at the ‘world rate’. No swapping, ‘undercutting’ or underhand deals are allowed!
Rates:
£1 per log (piece of paper)
£5 per pencil
£10 per ruler
- Each table top must be accurately drawn to have an area of 24cm² and the perimeter of the particular table must be written inside the rectangle
- Each accurately drawn table with correctly calculated perimeter can be sold to the ‘World Bank’ for £10
- Only one person from each country can visit other countries to trade and visit the ‘World Bank’.
The children quickly realised the strategies needed in order to make money for their country. They traded the goods that they had for money so that they were able to buy the resources needed to draw the lucrative table tops. Country 1 was the most successful and despite the fact some parents tried to trade in unworthy goods, the other countries failed to reach anywhere near the amount earned by country 1. The game was used to explain the fact that some countries are richer than other and sometimes therefore exploit the poorer countries for their resources.
After tasting some Fair Trade (Green&Black’s) chocolate, Year 6 then went on to look for the countries that are the biggest exporters of cocoa. They used atlases to locate these countries on a world map and identified what these countries had in common including: being close to the equator and therefore having the ideal climate to grow cocoa; and the fact that these countries were third world countries that have large amounts of poverty.
Finally, the children designed their own fair trade chocolate bar which included the fair trade mark, the ingredients and the benefits of purchasing fair trade products.
