Week 26: Learning SO MUCH at the Grocery Store (or How to ENJOY Grocery Shopping with Kids)
The grocery store is an incredibly rich place for teaching your kids all sorts of things. And given how often I end up at the store with my kids, I figure I might as well take advantage of all of those learning opportunities! I also find that if I’m focused on engaging the kids, instead of just trying to get through the store as quickly as possible, the whole trip is much better for all of us – me included!
Making a picture grocery list is my go-to way to engage the kids at the grocery store. With The Trip Clip you can easily make your own grocery list, and the kid-sized clipboard and 4-color pen are perfect for using the list on the go.
You may be surprised by how much your kids can help. Young kids will enjoy checking items off the list. As they get older, they can be given their own list and do part of the shopping for you!
I’ve also discovered that although my kids love their clipboard and 4-color pen, they REALLY love using a mobile grocery list on my phone.
The Trip Clip website makes it incredibly easy for your to create a grocery list and then use it from your phone. My kids really like this interactive list, and they love that the check marks are all different colors!
In addition to learning to do the grocery shopping (an important life skill!), here are just a few of the things your kids can learn/practice:
- Counting as they put items into the cart
- Letter recognition on signs
- Reading simple words from the list
- Finding prices
- Comparing prices
- Growing seasons for fruits and vegetables – this can also lead to fun discussions about farms, organic produce, how produce gets from the farm to our table, etc.
- How to tell when avocados, cantaloupe, bananas, plums, etc, are ripe
- Scales, weight, and calculating prices – let them play with the scale some, they’ll think grocery shopping is the best thing ever
- “Sell by” dates and why they matter
- Reading ingredients lists and eating healthily
- How to order items at the meat or deli counter, including talking to other adults
- Independence as they get some items on their own
- Grocery cart etiquette – how to not block other shoppers
Probably the most important thing, though, is to treat your grocery trips with kids as an outing, rather than trying to get through it as fast as you can. I find my attitude is the thing that makes the biggest difference!
If you want some other options for how to encourage learning at the grocery store, here are a bunch of ideas that are all available from The Trip Clip website:
A great way to keep the little ones entertained while you get the grocery shopping done. You can print a new bingo board every time you go to the store. Challenge the kids to find every item on the board!
It’s a grocery store scavenger hunt! Challenge your kids to find as many of each item as they can. You can easily create your own hunt with the 100s of images at www.thetripclip.com
Have your child find an item nearby that begins with each letter. A fun twist on a scavenger hunt for the grocery store that helps with first letter sounds, writing practice, and spelling practice!
Give your kids their own grocery list, and throw in a little handwriting practice too! So much good learning to be done at the grocery store!
Make your own grocery list word search puzzle! Your kids can search for the words at the same time you search for the items on the list. A great way to get through a grocery trip with kids!
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