Grocery Store Games

As much as I try and avoid it, errands still need to be run. If I could figure out how to keep all my cupboards and pantry full without making trips to the multitude of stores it seems to take to do this, you'd better believe I'd be jumping on board and doing it! But no, I haven't, so this morning when I put the last roll of toilet paper on the holder I knew that today was an errand day.

I wasn't sure if we'd have time (or energy) for much of an activity after the shopping was done, so I came up with a way to make the shopping an activity for the kids. We played little games at the store. It only took slightly longer to make it through the aisles this way then the normal way, but it was a much more pleasant experience... for all of us.

Here are some things we did:
- Scavenger Hunt: I told them to look for something that they'd then have to find. Sometimes it was an item to put in the cart afterwards (find squiggly noodles), and sometimes it was just a fun things to find (find something really small).
- Reading Fun: I have a new reader, so I would find words in packaging and signs that he can sound out.
- Guessing Game: When turning to go down a new aisle the kids would guess how many things we were going to pick up. They would keep track, counting the items as they went in the cart. It was fun to see how close they were to being right when we reached the end of the aisle.
- Rhymes and Word Games: We do this one a lot. Just singing songs and saying fun little rhymes can be fun in the store.
- ABC Game: Starting at the beginning of the alphabet we would look for something that begins with A. Then move on to B, C, all the way to Z. This game can also be done with colors of the rainbow.

These are all simple things to do, but it made the chore into something fun. Once you start going, I'm sure you can come up with even more than I did.