take the kids GROCERY shopping
M and M have been begging me to let them into the kitchen. Â They are both pretty impulsive. Â Having one of them in there is a fun learning experience, Â having both grabbing at ingredients is torture for me! Â So I put together a clever little plan. Â I have been letting them both pick a recipe and help cook one meal a week.
This time I took it a little further with Big M. Â He picked this recipe.
To make the list of ingredients we would need, we looked through old grocery ads for pictures.  Big M cut out the items he found.
There were a few ingredients that we couldn’t find pictures for, so Big M worked on writing.  I helped him sound out the words, and he did the writing.
We took the list to the grocery story.
Big M was in charge.
He even paid for the groceries, and bagged them himself. Â (A little training. . . does this mean he’ll be able to take care of the shopping soon?)
Once home, Big M helped put the recipe together. Â Yum, what a fun and healthy snack. Â Great reward for such hard work.
Tips (to maximize learning):  1. Make this a separate shopping trip.  Only buy items for the recipe you’re working on.  That way the process stays short and simple.  2.  If your little one isn’t writing yet, find more pictures in magazines or online.  3.  While in the store talk about the different sections: Dairy, Produce, Frozen Foods etc.
Do you take your kids grocery shopping? Â How do you add a little learning into the process?
This post is a part of  the GROCERY lesson plan.
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Hello Jillian, Thanks for coming by on my SITS day and leaving the lovely comment you did. It so good to meet you.
Lisa xx
fantastic. I love that one of your kids was in charge of the money. what a great way to learn!!!
When my oldest daughter was young she never wanted to stay in the cart….or near it for that matter. I am sure you can imagine how difficult it can be to shop while chasing your child. My solution was to give her a coupon and have her find the product. Amazing! Not only did she have fun but it actually made the trip through the grocery much faster!
What a great idea! I find cooking in general stressful, so it’s even harder to me to enjoy cooking with the kids! But I know I need to teach them and to try not to pass on my angst about it to them. I really like this shopping idea, and letting them help with one recipe each a week. And the comment above about the coupon to keep kids occupied in the supermarket is also a great tip! Thanks to you both!
I’m sharing this on my fb page now: http://www.facebook.com/mamapeapod
Jillian, where were you when my kids were younger! I might just use the gingerbread search for my eleven yearold’s wii remote. But, love, love your ideas for grocery shopping with kids. The earlier we get them to understand real food, the better food choices they’ll make. Right…my kids would still pick sugar icing and McAnythings if I wasn’t around. But, your ideas are on the nose for giving us a fighting chance. Thanks
Congrats on your win! (I really wanted prudentbaby advertising.)