KS2 Trade

Bring your Trade unit to life with this active outdoor unit that uses immersive trading games, 3D mapping, and hands-on challenges. By stepping outside the classroom, your pupils will master complex concepts like specialisation and ethical trade while discovering firsthand how our daily lives depend on a connected and fair global marketplace.

Lesson Plans

Understanding trade

This outdoor lesson uses immersive games to help your pupils master the complex concepts of global trade, specialisation, and resource distribution. By stepping outside for hands-on trading challenges, your pupils will develop essential geographical vocabulary while discovering firsthand why countries must rely on one another to succeed.

Learning objective:

To understand what trade is and why people trade goods and resources.

Understanding imports and exports

Transform your playground into a bustling global marketplace where pupils use fast-paced bartering games and loose-part construction to master the mechanics of international trade. This active session tackles complex topics like scarcity and specialisation through hands-on challenges, helping children visualize why the UK relies on a world of connections.

Learning objective:

To understand what goods the UK imports and exports, and why countries trade.

Understanding where our food comes from

Take your pupils on a global journey to discover exactly how food travels from around the world to their plates. Using large-scale mapping and creative construction, children will explore the vital links of international trade and see firsthand how our daily meals depend on a connected planet.

Learning objective:

To understand where our food comes from and why the UK imports some foods and grows others.

Understanding supply chains

Explore the journey of everyday items from raw materials to the local shop through immersive movement and role-play. Using interactive “supply web” games and hands-on challenges, your pupils will discover the vital links in global trade and see exactly what happens when the chain is disrupted.

Learning objective:

To understand what a supply chain is and how goods move from raw materials to the consumer.

Understanding Fair Trade

Empower your pupils to become ethical global citizens through an exploration of Fair Trade and its life-changing impact on farming communities. Using movement-based sorting games and creative 3D mapping with natural materials, children will investigate the journey of everyday products and discover how fair wages build better futures across the world.

Learning objective:

To understand what Fair Trade means and how it supports farmers around the world.

Before you get started

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