Grocery Store Bingo

As children get older, it can become difficult to take them grocery shopping. Older children want to get up and move and not be confined to a grocery cart while you analyze your choices. However, this fun, easily-transported game is a great way to make shopping trips simpler, faster, and even educational!Option One: For Children Under 7 YearsCreate a sheet filled with images of food you regularly buy or see at the grocery store. Have your child mark off items as she identifies them. You can also include letters, words, or phrases, or require her to find a certain number of words that start with a certain letter. This is a great way for her to practice her reading skills as well as identify colors, shapes, and sizes! Your food sheet can be as simple as creating a chart with clip art images or as involved as cutting out pictures from this week’s store flyer with your child and gluing or taping them to the paper. Option Two: For Children 7 & UpA fun alternative to the simplicity of matching food images is creating a bingo board that requires your child to incorporate math and measurements into his store hunt. This includes finding items with certain geometrical shapes, items sold by specific measurements, or items that are greater than or less than a certain size. This version of the game can also be customized for longer or shorter grocery runs, as you can duplicate squares on the board and have your child check off multiple at once (for shorter trips) or require that he find a new item for each square (for longer runs). Other TipsYou can give your older children a leadership role by asking them to help you create new boards for their younger siblings. Depending on the age of your oldest, you can also suggest that he walks his sibling around the store to play while you shop. Most importantly, after you’re finished making the board, don’t forget to laminate it so it can be reused for hours of fun! At Lakeland private schools, we foster an atmosphere of care and an environment of high expectations and effective discipline. To learn more about what makes us different, contact us at 407-246-4800.