Learn and Play

The following post was previously included on our sister blog, Creative Play Plus, which was created in partnership with the Shubert Center for Child Studies. We think a trip to the grocery store is a great way to encourage creative participation and get kids excited about cooking and eating healthy!

Learning Opportunities Easily Achieved in Play with your Toddler

By: Elizabeth Short (Hyperlink name to bio on Creative Play Plus:( http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/pscl/faculty/short/ejs.html)

Loads of learning opportunities can be achieved through sociodramatic play and building scripts for daily activities.

Before going to the grocery store, talk about your routine. This is a wonderful chance to teach the value of lists.

· Why do we make a list?

· Discuss how easy it is to forget things, even for the all knowing parent.

· Encourage your child’s active participation, by soliciting suggestions about favorite foods to include on the list.

· Point out how organized the grocery store is and how this structures helps us to efficiently complete our shopping.

Teach the importance of checking off items on the list, to insure all items have been obtained.

· If your child becomes impatient during the trip to the store, you can give them a special task and redirect their attention to your list.

· You could ask them to help you cross off items on a grocery list by naming items already in the cart. This helps them practice their developing language skills and also gather a sense of what is left on the grocery trip list.

· Non-readers can be asked to decorate the list with pictures corresponding to items on the list. This provides a nice opportunity to advance literacy.