Shopping with the Kids
Apr 28th, 2008 by Marie
Grocery shopping is a tiring task. Even more tiring is dragging your kids along with you. We start the shopping battle with who is sitting where in the cart. Dangerous as it might be, we seem to be hanging off every side. The cart fills up with food and supplies, leaving no room for the kids and off they go running. There is also asking to buy, eat, and have everything in sight. Even though I’d love to do my shopping alone, most times it’s just not an option.
Here are a few things I do to keep the kiddos busy and involved in the shopping process, making it pleasant for everyone.
Make a grocery list: Tell your child what you are going to need from the store. Then they can write the words or draw pictures of a few things, trying to spot them throughout the trip. Cross the item off the list when they have found it.
Find the Food Game: Cut out pictures of food from the ads that come in the mail. Or you can clip the coupons that you won’t be using or that have expired. They can pick out a few at a time to hold on to and search for.
Cranium Bloom: The Let’s go shopping activity pack has a spiral pad with activity cards and pen to keep the little ones busy.
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Play I Spy with My Little Eye: “I Spy with my little eye, something that is green.” and your child needs to find something green. Then we switch and they spy the color or shape and I find it. This game is great for the checkout line when aren’t moving.
Aqua Doodle: Game and Color Mini Mat. Loving this invention that only uses WATER, no mess. I highly suggest buying one to put in your purse. We use ours on long driving trips too.
Little snack bags are also great to pass the time for the kids. We sometimes buy the $1 popcorn bag from the Target eatery. Hopefully some of these tips will help and your shopping trips won’t end with tears from the kids or from YOU.
Wonderful tips, Marie! I especially LOVE the idea of the Find the Food Game — fabulous! I enjoy your website and have subscribed to it in my Google Reader. Thanks for the great ideas and inspiration!
WOW! You are motivated! I just have my husband go grocery shopping once a week and late at night! That way, I don’t have to deal with this icky experience. I do, however, enjoy going to Target, because the kids are COMPLETELY entertained with the popcorn for an acceptable period of time! Thanks for sharing!
Your kids are sure to grow up to be geniuses! You do such fun things with them! Have you thought of MOTHER OF THE YEAR??? Where do you get all your inspiration? I just love your site, though I will never measure up to all that you do, your ideas are still fun to see.
Must confess…I give my husband the coupons so that he can play a matching game. He likes it because he knows exactly what to get, I like it because he’s not putting anything extra in the cart because he’s distracted with the coupons! Sad, no?
Natalie - I should start doing that with my hubby, I love it! He always comes home with 10 other things that weren’t on the list.
good ideas; grocery shopping can be crazy. and about the butterflies; I think the caterpillars are a little gross too, but the kids are having a great time. my husband says he feels like he’s living in a rainforest with the caterpillars and the plants that we have growing from seeds we started indoors. :)
Wow! You are super-mom! Another great idea with the pictures of food is to let your child make a grocery list of the things they like/use. Then they can be in charge of finding and putting those items in the cart. It is a great literacy builder.
We play the “I spy game all the way through the store. I ask them to find shapes, colors…” They love it and it keeps them close and learning!