Students in Year 3 took advantage of the warm October days to visit the colourful market in New Belgrade, where they learnt new things about autumn fruit, vegetables and grains. Their main task, however, was to purchase pumpkins for Halloween.

Friday, 30 October is a day that requires dressing up. Halloween is on Saturday, and the teachers and students will play “scaring the fear away”. In addition, on Pumpkin Day the school premises will be decorated with teachers and students’ creative hand-made ornaments, and everyone will treat themselves to baked pumpkin prepared by our culinary club.

Tomorrow we will organise truly different lessons with Halloween costumes and masks for all the students and teachers who want to scare the fear away. Prior to this, third-graders and their teacher Branka Milićević will head to the New Belgrade green market to purchase the pumpkins.

The market visit covered one of the project-based learning topics – a healthy diet. The interesting visit allowed the students to expand their knowledge in natural sciences, maths, Serbian and art.

The courteous vendors showed their fresh and healthy produce to the students, who then went on to visit the dairy and fish sections and returned to school with their baskets full. Moreover, they learnt how to pick the right ingredients and saw what’s fresh in October.

The children learnt how to have a healthy diet and choose the right food that is not only healthy, but fresh from the market.

We live in a world where technological advancement is not in line with the practical skills children need to gain for everyday life. Research has shown that 58% of children aged 3-5 can use smartphones, while merely 15% can make their own breakfast; not to mention that their knowledge of healthy food is really low. In this modern world, the independence of previous generations got lost.

The market is the perfect place to learn about healthy food. Moreover, it teaches us about resourcefulness and quick thinking.

It gives us the opportunity to better assess people and their habits. In a way, the green market is a milder version of this life lesson and, in that sense, has value. It’s one of the perfect places for learning life skills.

It seems the kids really enjoyed this new experience and the items they encountered, particularly the pumpkins they purchased. Now they’ll be able to make all sorts of decorations and handicraft items. And the school culinary club will bake the best pumpkin in the world, allowing the students to see the whole cooking process, from buying the ingredients and preparing them, to consuming the end product (which they know all about).