The grocery store can be a quite an adventure with kids! The more we involve little ones in the day to day tasks such as meal planning, shopping, and cooking, we are instilling healthy values in our children. While simply being with your child, with a few laughs thrown in can be rewarding itself, here are a few ideas on how to enrich your experience to make it a grand adventure for young learners:

> Recruit kids in making the grocery list! This is a great exercise for those first starting to learn to write. But even before they can write words, they can draw pictures of the item! 🍎
> Draw a map of the grocery store and turn it in to a scavenger hunt! Great way to teach children about the grocery store layout and distinguishing between produce, meats, dairy, etc…
> Have kids read the packages of items you pick up. (Great opportunity to discuss reading food labels with older kids)
> Discuss with children where the foods come from. Whether it be along the lines of “beef comes from cows” or a bit more challenging such as where bananas are natively grown!
> Talk about why colors they see in the produce section.
> Have kids pick out a color and then choose one vegetable or fruit of that color.
> Enjoy a new experience together by challenging yourselves to pick one new vegetable your family hasn’t tried.
> Play “I spy” games. “I spy a veggie that’s green.”
> Have kids pick out the produce while teaching them about how to select the best watermelon!
> Let them hold on to the list, read it off, and cross off items as you go.
> Practice their numbers by having them count out the items as you put them in to the bag. 

What would you add to this list? Comment below!