In October 2015, GIIS Abu Dhabi held a simulated Market Square activity for KG1 and KG2 students. Keeping in tune with the theme of the month, which was fruits, vegetables and healthy food, a market square was a perfect setup.

Grocery shopping is one of the most important agenda in our daily lives. The little ones of Kindergarten enjoyed participating in mock shopping activity. The aim of this activity was to give students hands-on experience of real time shopping. Students got a chance to think and take decisions all by themselves while shopping independently which helped in developing their self-confidence.

The setup was made as a busy market square where students came to buy merchandise of their needs. The young shoppers were very excited to enter the market zone which was clearly demarcated by the Market Square banner. There were several counters, with a variety of goods of daily necessity, arranged in a manner to create attractive visual cues. ‘Green Grocers’ counter was filled with a variety of vegetables and fruits and was the biggest attraction in the market. Dairy, confectionary and book store also held the attention of the young shoppers. Prices were fixed and labelled. It was a self-service store with a variety of products, ending with  a cash counter. The play money was made and given to children to enjoy shopping. Students brought their own paper shopping bags to avoid use of plastic to advocate a clean environment.

Hands-on Learning games are a great way to help children learn and gain valuable skills. The Pre-primary students enjoyed the Market Square activity thoroughly as they learnt new concepts like transaction through use of play money - which enhances logical reasoning and numeracy skills, knowledge of fruits and vegetables, relativity of quantity and the price value of various product lines.

This activity also gave them the opportunity of making choices. The entire programme was thought out to engage various faculties of the brain. Personality development and confidence building are important areas of growth. The activity aimed at achieving an over-all growth of the students and the teachers were more than proud to see the children shopping away to glory.