Shop Till You Drop & Help Your Child Learn

What You Need

• A grocery shopping list

What to Do

• Pick a time when neither you nor your child is hungry or tired.
• At the grocery store, put your child in the grocery cart so that he faces you. Take your time as you walk up and down the aisles.
• Let your child feel the items that you buy -- a cold carton of milk, for example or the skin of an orange. Talk to your child about the items: "The skin of the orange is rough and bumpy. Here, you feel it."
• Be sure to name the objects that you see on shelves and talk about what you are seeing and  doing: "First, we're going to buy some cereal. See, it's in a big red and blue box. Listen to the great noise it makes when I shake the box. Can you shake the box? Now we're going to pay for the groceries. We're put them on the counter while I get out the money. The cashier will tell us how much we have to pay."
• Encourage your child to practice saying "hi" and "bye-bye" to clerks and other shoppers.
• Leave for home before your child gets tired or grumpy.

Excerpt from: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Communications and Outreach, Helping Your Preschool Child, Washington, D.C., 2005