We have been very interested in what Teacher Becca makes us for lunch and where the different ingredients come from, often asking if she grew it, if it came from a farmer, or just the store (and sometimes asking which store!) Recently some of us have been interested in helping do the shopping for the school and so our dramatic play area turned into a Grocery Store! We loved being able to shop for different items and load carts or baskets and bring them around the classroom. Checking out was always fun, and we loved sliding each item down the conveyor and then scanning. We often then went to the mattress or the Pikler Triangle to load them into our “cars” and take them home. It’s amazing to see how much kids enjoy real life tasks, and how much they observe and model from us!
After shopping a lot there (where products are typically overpriced), we decided to head out to Whole Foods to practice in real life. Upon arriving, we split up into teams of four and each group was given a list and a shopping cart. Our teachers prepared the different lists with item names and pictures that we would recognize and eat often at school. As we walked around the store with our carts, we made sure that what we selected matched the picture on our list before placing it in the cart by comparing the two and discussing with our teammates. One of our team members then checked off the box next to the picture of the item we found, which made identifying the remaining items to find easier. Once we collected all our items, we proceeded to the checkout, where we put our items on the counter for the cashier to scan and then we bagged them in our shopping bags.
Through this real-world, hands-on experience, we have mastered the series of steps associated with shopping; worked on our picture-object correspondence; and most importantly, honed in on our cooperative skills as we discussed and made sure to agree upon which aisle we’re going and which products to purchase. We had so much fun shopping for Teacher Rebecca and hope to do it again soon!
