Teaching Kids About Fair Trade in Your Own Community
You want to teach your child about fair trade. To begin with, avoid encyclopedic definitions. Instead, summarize it in a more kid-friendly, digestible manner, such as the following:
“Fair trade means making sure the people who grow or make things are treated kindly and paid fairly for their hard work. For example, when farmers grow cocoa beans for chocolate, fair trade helps make sure they earn enough money to take care of their families, send their children to school, and work in safe places. When we buy fair trade products, we are helping people around the world have better lives and showing that everyone deserves respect and fairness.”
Beyond sharing the definition, you will want to engage your child further so that they will better comprehend the concept and learn to adopt it as a part of their current and future consumption habits. There is no better way to accomplish this worthy mission than by immersing them in enjoyable activities that naturally relate to this ethical business model and social movement. Stuck for ideas? That’s what we’re here for. Below is a summary of activities that can be enjoyed within or near your very own community.
3 Fun and Inventive Ways to Teach Your Child About Fair Trade in Their Very Own Community
Get Involved in a Local Farmers’ / Artisan Market
Local artisan, craft, and farmers’ markets help promote the concept of fair trade by creating an environment where the public can buy products directly from the people who make or grow them.
At farmers markets, gardeners, farmers, and bakers can sell fresh fruits, vegetables, and homemade goods without needing large retailers to take part of their profits. This helps producers earn a fair price for their hard work and encourages local residents and visiting consumers to support local families and small businesses. Consumers also have the chance to learn where products come from and how they are made, which creates a stronger connection between buyers and sellers.
Meanwhile, at craft markets, the public enjoys the opportunity to celebrate and support handmade crafts and traditional skills from different cultures that exist within the same community. Artists and craftspersons are able to set fair prices for their work and explain the time, creativity, and effort that go into each item. By supporting these markets, people help ensure that makers are treated respectfully and paid fairly for their talents. Collectively, these experiences teach children that fair trade is not only about buying goods, but also about valuing people, protecting traditions, and encouraging ethical business practices.
While regularly visiting and shopping at artisan and farmers’ markets with your child is a great activity in itself, we encourage you to consider how your household may get more involved. There are often volunteering opportunities to help organize and/or promote weekly or monthly events. Something as simple as having your child leverage their social media profile (if age appropriate) or using your own social media profile to promote awareness about local fair trade gatherings can be enlightening.
A more immersive activity is for your household to become a vendor. Many households can become vendors at artisan or farmers’ markets, depending on the rules of the market. There may be more regulatory hoops to jump through when selling fruits, vegetables, flowers, or herbs grown in your own garden (you will need to do some online research for your municipality), but those selling baked goods and artisan wares are often welcomed with open arms by local markets in many Canadian communities.
Artisan markets are generally less regulated, and welcome people who make handmade items such as jewelry, pottery, candles, soaps, clothing, paintings, or wood crafts. If interested, you will need to apply with market organizers in your area, describe what you plan to sell, and follow market guidelines about quality, pricing, and handmade or locally grown products. It will take some effort to get off the ground, but imagine the pride your child will fell in representing your household by selling fair trade goods at a market in their own community!
Fair Trade Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt
A monthly fair trade scavenger hunt that includes all of the medium-to large-sized (it needs to be a challenge!) grocery stores in your city is a fun, ongoing activity that will teach your child how to recognize products that support fair trade practices. During each hunt, your child will walk through the grocery store with a predefined list in hand, searching for items with fair trade labels, such as bananas, coffee, tea, sugar, or chocolate – the latter of which makes a great reward at the end of the hunt!
To make the activity more challenging for older adolescents (i.e. pre-teens) the checklist may feature products not just with the “Fair Trade” label, but those from different countries. This will expand their horizons further as they learn about farmers and workers from specific regions who participated in growing or preparing these foods.
As your child explores, you can further explain how fair trade helps workers earn fair wages and work in safe conditions, and other related benefits. This activity encourages children to think about where products come from and how their shopping choices can help people around the world.
Observing Fair Trade Amongst Wildlife
This activity may offer a less “direct” look at local fair trade in action, but it will be the most fun for many children.
Fair trade behavior in nature can be seen when wildlife cooperates and shares resources in ways that benefit their own group and those of interconnected species. Many species work together to help one another survive, which is similar to the idea of fairness and mutual support in human fair trade systems.
As an example, honey bees can be observed participating in behaviors that resemble fair trade through the cooperative way they share labor and resources within a hive. By visiting a local apiary, you and your child may observe (with insight from an on-site apiarist) that worker bees divide tasks according to the needs of the colony, with some gathering nectar and pollen while others care for larvae, build honeycombs, or defend the hive.
Another example of fair trade behavior in wildlife can be found by observing cleaner fish at your local aquarium. Together with your child you can watch them remove parasites from larger fish (e.g., a shark!) and see that in return they receive food and protection. Meanwhile a trip to the zoo may offer an opportunity to observe birds feeding on insects from large animals like zebras and rhinos, helping keep the animals healthy while getting a meal themselves.
All of these partnerships (and many more) demonstrate balance and cooperation in nature, where both sides benefit from working together. Observing these behaviors can help your child understand that fairness, teamwork, and respect are important not only for people, but also throughout the natural world.
We hope everything above was helpful in the worthy mission of getting your child engaged in the concept of fair trade. Meanwhile, please note that the Plant a Seed & See What Grows Foundation inspires and promotes healthy living and learning for kids across Canada. You can help us help the next generation by pledging your support too! Learn more about how you can get involved.