Does your child hate being dragged around the supermarket? Do you hate trying to keep them entertained while you fill the trolley? Did you know you can make it a fun, educational game?
So often, children are given ‘busy’ work or technology to distract them while adults get the shopping done (or they are left at home). However, this is wasting precious time together and missing the opportunity for real-world learning.
Instead, try some of these on your next supermarket trip:
- Give them an age-appropriate list (for younger children add photos and fewer items, for older children maybe a longer list with photo clues and for children who can read, list the items). While you go through each aisle, they need to find the items on their list and add it to the trolley. If you have more than one child, have a mini competition and see who gets the most from their list by the end.
- Have an alphabet hunt. Print out a page with every letter on it, put it on a clipboard, grab a highlighter and off you go! Ask your child to look for letters as you shop if they see a letter they need to tell you and then highlight it on the page. See if they can find every letter during the shopping trip. Check out more alphabet games here!
- Spot the numbers. Numbers are everywhere when we shop. Depending on your child’s knowledge choose one of the following activities; ask them to spot the basic numbers (1-10), ask them to add up 3 numbers they can see, ask them how much it would cost to get a certain amount of one product (practising multiplication), let them help count out the correct amount of money at the checkout or ask them to make a list of all the numbers they can see within a set time limit. Check out more numbers games here!
- Before going shopping, decide together on a kid-friendly recipe that they want to make with you and let them find the right ingredients at the shop and then enjoy cooking it together.
- Chat with them. Ask them what they can see, talk about the different fruits and vegetables, ask them what you could do together once the shopping is finished or on the weekend, ask them about their week or just have a general chat together.
Also, read Why Choose Organic to understand the importance of eating organic.
If you have a fun activity that your family loves while in the supermarket, let us know below in the comments!
