Math is perhaps one of those subjects which can be made easier and far more interesting using practical activities. Giving a practical hands-on experience of various concepts in Math helps the students a lot in grasping the topic and retaining it for a longer time.
Money- a topic in class 4 Math, involves the basic operations and conversions from rupees to paise and vice-versa. To make this topic easy to understand, an activity was conducted in the class. A mock shop was set up, equipped with everything essential for money transaction. There was a horde of articles on sale, a counter for generating bills and a cash counter.
The idea behind the activity was to increase awareness and alertness in money transactions in terms of change returned at the cash counter, and use of correct denominations. The larger objective was to make the concept of billing and purchasing more concrete in the students’ mind so as to enable them to recognize the face value of currency notes which are in circulation.
To set up the shop, children brought empty wrappers of soaps, biscuits, other items of everyday use, shampoo sachets, toffees and chocolates for setting up the shop and really enjoyed putting together their make believe shop. Each child made purchases from the shop at least twice or thrice. It gave them an insight and also the confidence to execute each transaction correctly at the cash counter, and they were forced to double check the change given to them at the counter, and ask for the right change.
The children felt it was indeed a fun and creative way to learn how to quickly add or subtract money, calculate correct change returned to them, understand the concepts of earning and saving money and the value of money in daily life.