Consumer Influence – The Local Leisure Centre
Context:
This series of suggested activities explores time as a resource and how we use this some of the
time for leisure activities. At a basic level the activities use the need for local leisure facilities as
the context for exploring how we can communicate our needs as consumers and how this can
influence the provision of services.
Year Group: Key Stage 2
Subject/Curriculum Reference: The World About Us
Topic Reference: Consumer Influence and Consumer Decisions
Time/Length: Variable dependent on field work
Aims:
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To examine what is meant by the term leisure
To increase awareness about the use of leisure time
To in crease awareness of the facilities available to them as consumers of leisure
services
Learning Outcomes:
As a result of the activities the pupils will be able to:
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Explain the concept of leisure
Identify what leisure time they have and how they spend it
Identify and/or participate in new leisure activities
Evaluate the benefits of using leisure time effectively
Discuss the availability of facilities available in their community
Report on the need within their community in the area of leisure
Resources
For display:
Local Newspaper advertisements or information about leisure activities; cinemas, Gyms,
Swimming pools, bingo, Salsa classes, Skate boarding, Mountain biking etc..
Artefacts:
Sports and leisure equipment or pictures of sports equipment e.g. Mountain bike, pack of cards,
TV, Computer, XBox, Game Boy, Skate board, Swimming goggles, mobile phone, Football.
Organise:
Paper and pens and clip boards for survey. They might use a spreadsheet exercise to record
and organise the results. They would need access to a PC for this.
General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland – Primary
Lesson summary/organisation/activities:
Teacher Starting Points
Discussion:
Establish what the pupils understand by
leisure and how we spend our time. If
they are having difficulty with this then
you can give them some examples.
It is also worth exploring how we all have very
different ideas about what leisure is depending on
our likes and dislikes and the other things we have
to do.
For example: If we have a parent who works on a
computer all day at work they may not like to play
computer games at home in the evening even if
you do.
Investigation:
The pupils will think about all the facilities
that exist in the local community
including the school together with all the
other activities they count as leisure.
Field Work:
The pupils can then use this information
to devise a small survey. The survey will
find out what are the most popular
activities. It will also ask people what
they think is needed in their community
for leisure activities that is not already
provided.
Design:
The pupils will use the information they
have collected from all the people their
own age and use it to design/devise how
they would run an after school club.
Pupil Activities
Talk about:
What is leisure?
How do we spend our leisure time?
Do leisure activities cost money?
Who pays for our leisure activities?
Do we always have to pay for leisure activities?
Do we all like the same things?
Do we all have access to the same things?
Classroom Task:
The pupils will record all the facilities they know
exist in the community and all the types of
activity that they count as leisure.
They will then be able to sort the ones that cost
money and those that you can do for free.
Consumer Survey:
Each pupil can survey 1 person their own age
and one adult person and bring the results of this
back to class.
Do local facilities match what you want?
Do you have to pay? Is it worth it?
Do you have to travel far?
Classroom Task:
What leisure facilities did young people want?
if you were able to use school premises after
school what leisure activities would you make
available?
Who would run it?
Would it cost money to set it up?
Would it cost any money to use it?
What might be the difficulties?
If we were the local council doing this survey
what would we do with the results?
General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland – Primary
Extension Activities/Homework:
Do they know who pays for local leisure facilities? Can they find out? How do decisions get
made about new facilities?
Teacher Reflections:
Understanding time as a resource is quite a difficult concept for the pupils. When you add up
how much time they spend in school each week plus homework time and compare this to how
much time they have for leisure it helps them to understand how time is a valuable commodity.
Again at a simple level it also gets them to think about the range of needs within a community
and how difficult it is to meet all the needs everyone has with limited resources.
These discussions also help them to understand that some people may have more leisure time
than others due to factors like income and employment. This may also mean they can or
perhaps cannot afford certain sorts of activity.
It is important to get across to the pupils that they should spend some leisure time getting some
exercise (links to healthy lifestyle work). This does not have to cost money e.g. playing football
with your friends.
General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland – Primary