We just had lots of fun playing an awesome learning activity – The Silk Road Trading Game! It was more of a special event for our homeschool co-op. We have been busy studying medieval history in Biblioplan. Much of medieval history centers around the trade route known as the Silk Road. It was of such obvious importance that even the vicious, destructive Mongols thought it best to protect the Silk Road. New ideas were traded, as well as important staples and exotic luxuries.
I put my Rhetoric class (highschoolers) to work, as a history assignment, creating a learning activity that would help the children (ages 5 to 13) understand what it was like not to be able to run to the store for exotic ingredients, exchange ideas and goods in the world before global economy, and experience the significance of different countries’ contributions to the staples of modernity. And did they deliver! I will credit most of these Silk Road Trading Game ideas to Grace Dorn.
First, children were divided into four countries of origin: China, Persia (Iran), Italy, and Egypt. Four adults dressed as the leaders of the four kingdoms. The families of the children were tasked with bringing the trade goods from those countries. Children from Egypt were to bring grain and gold, those from China were to bring porcelain (cast off and thrift store finds) and cloves, students from Persia, the textiles and honey, and from Italy, glass and wool. Students dressed in the best closet costumes they could find that looked like their countries. Tons of scarfs were put to good use for this! There not many other uses for them in South Florida!
It was a great idea to have enough iced tea and exotic cookies for everyone at the end of trading! Everybody was ready – and deserved – a treat at the end!
Egyptians were to collect three bags of fine teas or spices, two strands of precious jewels (mardi gras style beads), lots of honey (bit o honey candy and honey sticks), and cloves. Chinese were to collect three pieces of glass, a large amount to fabrics (fat quarters and fabric squares), gold (fake coins and candy coins), a piece of clay pottery, and cinnamon. Persians were to collect a few items of finest porcelain, several balls of wools (yarn), the newest form of paper, and a string of jewels. And finally, Italians were to find the best pottery, several textiles (fabric squares), a few bags of grain (various grains like chia seeds, corn kernels, and kamut), and many Uzbekistani cookies!
The groups were given a handout explaining the game and a map of the Silk Road trade route, with a key. The center of the featured route was their starting place, Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Each country group had a meeting place. Our Rhetoric cohort (the high school students) ran the game by each setting up a table full of goods to trade.
Goods had three levels of value: low, medium, and high. Kids could trade multiple low value goods for higher values. Low value goods were: grain, textiles, cloves, honey, wool. Middle value goods were: glass, one gold coin, porcelain, Uzbekistani cookies, silver and bronze, certain papers. The highest value goods were: silk, certain papers, pottery, precious jewels, tea, cinnamon.
The kids found that certain traders drove a hard bargain. Other traders were easily persuaded with the addition of a few cookies. Just like on the real Silk Road, we encouraged adding knowledge to the bargain – how to make gunpowder, books, and even recipe swaps!
When trading began each country group set off down the Silk Road with their goods to trade in groups, pairs, or individually. They bargained with the traders to trade their goods up in value until they acquired the items their leader wanted. Then they returned to their sovereign for approval. As a Medici lady of Florence, I rejected the quality or quantity of the items at least once, sending them back for further trading. The whole activity lasted about 45 minutes, from instructions to distribution, not including the time dress-up and set-up, or the debriefing afterward.
The more invested and excited the teachers are, the more the kids will buy in! The kids had a blast. We had only one complaint, from little kids who were not allowed to do any bargaining or carrying of goods by competitive older kids in charge of their group. To avoid that in the future, I would require every student to make a trade on their own, with no input from older students (and no judgment on whether it was a good or bad trade).
Don’t be surprised when kids start trading their own costumes and jewelry to get enough goods to win. The most fun was watching them problem solve, trade spontaneously between each other, and start trading the fancy containers that some families has sent their goods in! I loved the creativity and experiential learning. Learning by doing, with fun in the mix, creates long lasting lessons.
I would love to hear how your own Silk Road Trading Game went!
