Trips to the grocery store can seem boring to kids, but sometimes giving them something to do makes the experience more interesting and therefore easier on parents.Here are a few fun ways to practice early literacy skills on your next trip to the supermarket.
- Have your child cross off your shopping list as you collect items.
If you have a handwritten shopping list, or even a digital list on your phone, allow your child to read you the items and cross them off as you add them to your shopping cart. This gives them the opportunity to see the words for foods and other household items in print and to see how close you are to being finished at the same time.
- Point out signs and labels for familiar foods.
As you shop for the staples of your child's diet, point out the names of these items on the packaging and store signage. Kids will be invested in these words because the foods are well known to them, and they might even recognize the words when you unload the groceries at home.
- Let child help match coupons to items.
Have your child help you find the correct coupons to go with some of your items. Show them how the words and pictures on the coupons are clues to which item they belong to.
- Talk about the way the items for sale are categorized on the shelves.
Help your child learn to categorize his world by discussing the way items are sorted and arranged in the grocery store. Why are milk and cheese often close to one another? Why are sugar, flour, and cake mix all together? Where might you find paper towels? This activity promotes language skills, as well as science and math background knowledge.
I use early literacy tips similar to this in my take home bags, emphasizing looking for words in every day places and talking to your child - and that makes me slide ever more towards the "kids should not be given tablets/phones" side of the argument. Although I sympathize with parents who are exhausted and just want to get the errands done and go home, it bothers me that kids are always being distracted - movie in the car, tablet/phone games in the grocery cart, and not interacting with their parents. Happily, this is not a pervasive trend in my town! I see the majority of parents chatting with their kids, or the kids pushing their own little carts at the store.
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