Grocery Games

Grocery store trips are not always the funnest, especially when your child is screaming louder than the loudspeaker at the store. One way to have a better trip for you and them is to keep them entertained. These are some things that I thought of to keep kids busy while you are gathering the much needed grocery items.

Grocery Store Bingo- Make a bingo card with pictures of basic grocery store items for example milk, bread, cheese, apples, meat etc. Print out two copies of the bingo sheet, laminate both of sheets of paper, cut out one of the sheets into square, then attach Velcro to the square in the bingo sheet and also the ones you cut out, attach an envelope to the back of the bingo card with the extra Velcro pictures in it. Then the next time you are at the store you have a game you can play as you are shopping, Yowza!

Very Own Grocery List- After your grocery list has already been completed take a few items, preferably ones that will be in different aisles, and make another grocery list just for your child. As you come to that aisle while shopping the child is responsible for finding that item carefully putting it in the cart, and marking it off their checklist. If you would like to kick this up a notch and your child is older, they could also be responsible for paying for it at the checkout.

Tasty Treasure Hunt- Before going to the grocery store draw a simple map of the store you are going to. If you need help with this many stores have a store map when you get there. Then write out a clue for some of the items of your grocery list. Your child gets to be the captain and tell you where you are going next. When they figure out a clue give them another one. Obviously just do one per aisle or you are going to be their for a long time. The treasure at the end could be some kind of treat for the family. I have some suggestions of clues below to give you an idea.

Shiver me timbers this is sure cold but goes great with chocolate syrup= ice cream
Yummy, Yummy in Dad's tummy this is his favorite food= Whatever is his favorite food
This rhymes with red, bed, and said= bread
Can't have cookies with out this cold drink= milk
Squiggly wiggly something that looks like worms= pasta

Out the Door List

Mornings can be so hectic sometimes and it seems like whenever I get to school, work, or wherever I have forgotten something. To hopefully lessen this prevalent problem I made a list of everything that I needed on a regular basis, and also things I needed to do before I leave the house such as lock the doors, turn everything off, etc. After the list was done I created a table in my word processing program, entered in my list, printed it off, laminated it, and put it buy my door. I have had this here for over a month and it has helped a lot. I love when things work out just how you planned! Not to mention this idea is simple and effective.

Picture Packing

Learning responsibility is so important for young children and so is giving mom a little bit of help. Some of the most chaotic moments occur when preparing to go somewhere especially when it is a long trip. So keep your kids busy while also getting some packing done. My solution to this problem is a picture packing list. Creating this is really simple all I did was went into my word processing program created a table with 2 columns the first column I put pictures of everything a child would need on a trip on the other column I left it blank so I could put a number of how many of that item needs to be packed.

Next I went and laminated the list. Now you have a packing list that will work even for those who don't know how to read yet. Maybe before the trip mom can get a breath in.

Put a Spin on Cleaning

What better way to get your children excited for chores than making them become exciting and not a chore anymore. These are a few ideas to put a spin on your cleaning routine and make your children want to help you clean.

Ice Skate Mopping: I used to do this when I was growing up. Clear the space get some big sponges tie them to your children's feet pour water on the floor and get ready for some killer indoor ice skating. Make sure that there isn't a lot of water on the floor or you will end up with some sore bums and this is obviously something that requires a supervison especially with younger children. But 15 minutes of this and you will have a sparkling clean floor.

Squirt bottle dishes: If you have a double sink, fill both sides with water and soap, add a step stool if needs be, add a squirt bottle and squezze bottles (save old dish soap bottles, shampoo bottles, etc. for this) and add all the nonbreakable items to one side and breakable ones to the other side. Your child can have at all the nonbreakable items and you can handle the breakables and you can both have fun cleaning the dishes along side each other. .

Follow the chores- This would be great for Saturday clean up. Get some string and loop it throughout rooms in the house where a small child size chore needs to be done write the chore on a piece of paper and place it on the string. Then have your children follow the string to each chore, and maybe have the end of the string lead to a treat of some kind.

Basketball laundy toss- This is an old stand by but if it works why not? Get those clothes off the floor with ease as you shoot hoops with dirty shirts and socks into the laundry basket. Maybe you could have different pieces of clothing be worth differnt amount of points for example: shirts=5pts socks=1pt etc.

Laundry surprise- Before you add the clean clothes into the laundry basket put a new coloring book in the bottom or maybe a game you already have. Tell your children that when all the clothes have been folded their is a fun surprise at the bottom. What else could bring more motivation to folding clothes.

Going on a Picnic

The weather has been so nice lately, and what better way to enjoy the weather than going on a picnic. Although, someone has to prepare everything so what are the kids going to do? My suggestion make the kids part of the process and keep them busy while you get everything together.

Make a Grocery List Supplies: Grocery Ads, paper, glue, pencil

Talk together about what you would like to bring on a picnic and then see if they can find pictures of them in some grocery ads. Glue the pictures to a piece of paper if they are old enough they can copy the words and write it under the picture. Then when you go to the store bring the list along and have the kids look for the items with you.

Sack Lunch Bag Supplies: small paper bags, crayons, markers

While you are putting together sandwiches and everything else. Have the kids make a paper bag to put their lunch in. Either have them write their name on it or you write their name, then have them use crayons and markers to draw pictures or design a pattern on the bag. Then when you are having your picnic everyone will easily know who's sandwiches are who's.

Picnic Organization The first picnic of the season write down a list of everything that you brought and put it in your picnic basket so you can quickly gather supplies. This will lessen the hassle of trying to remember everything for the next picnic. You can also add the kids grocery list so they will have their lists for the next picnic also.