Grocery School

The grocery store holds more teaching opportunities than most people recognize. Few people recognize just how many things there are to learn there!

Here are a sample of the things that children can learn and practice at the grocery store (and/or at home, after the grocery trip). This list is not all-inclusive. If you are interested in more grocery store homeschool ideas, let me know and I’ll make another list!  

Young Children (Preschool & Younger):

• Colors
• Shapes
• Names of produce
• Sorting

Math

• Write a grocery list and have children guess the prices you will spend. Compare to the end receipt.
• Have children keep track of how much you are spending on calculators. Or, have them keep track of how much you are saving by buying items on sale or using coupons.
• Determine unit costs. If something costs $6.79 per pound, how much is it for an ounce? Two ounces? How much can you buy for $5.00? Challenge children to find the cheapest item by unit (instead of the price per can, determine the price per ounce, etc)
• Before you leave, have children clip coupons and determine how cheap the shopping trip can be. If they decide it is cheapest to shop at multiple stores due to coupon or discounts, have them factor the cost of gas to travel to both stores. Compare the end results of the shopping trip to their predictions.
• A scientist, Dan Meyer, determined a mathematic formula to determine what checkout line is fastest. Each item takes 2.9 seconds and each person takes 48 seconds to get through the line (ergo, it is faster to be in line behind one person with more items than three people with fewer items) (Orzel, 2009). Have children guess which line will be fastest, based on this formula. Have each child stand in line with an item and “race” to see who finishes their transaction first.

Science

• Learn the meanings of the food labels. What does it mean if something is pasteurized? Homogenized?
• Cooking itself an act of chemistry. According to the MIT class Kitchen Chemistry, “Cooking may be the oldest and most widespread application of chemistry and recipes may be the oldest practical result of chemical research” (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009). Discuss how different ingredients and methods of cooking produce different textures, flavors, etc. (Ideas on specific Kitchen Chemistry experiments in a later post!)

Geography & Nature

• Where does your food come from? Make a map when you get home. Or, before you leave home, decide to experience a culinary world tour, and deliberately by meals from different countries.
• Where are pineapples grown? Bananas? Peanuts? How do they grow? Can you grow them in your area? Why or why not? How would your diet change if you could only eat locally-grown produce?

History

• What did people do before grocery stores existed? What would life be like for you if you couldn’t run to the grocery store?
• Did you know the first self-service grocery store was called Piggly Wiggly? It was opened on September 9, 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee. In 14 years, there were 2,600 Piggly Wiggly stores and other stores began changing to self-service.

Reading

• Read the labels and discuss what is in each item. There are some pretty weird food ingredients out there. Do you know what polydimethylsiloxane is? It’s a common fast food ingredient… and it’s also used in Silly Putty, head-lice treatments, and breast implants (Science Channel, 2009). You may not come across polydimethylsiloxane in your grocery trip, but you will most likely encounter (at least in passing) foods that contain high fructose corn syrup (candy), phosphoric acid (soda), etc. If you don’t know what an ingredient is, look it up when you get home and learn!
• Play a game where your family decides to avoid a certain item (like tomatoes or corn syrup) during the shopping trip and anyone who places an item containing that ingredient into the cart gets a penalty. If you have multiple children, encourage success by offering a reward for the person who makes the fewest mistakes (rewards could include a treat or not having to unload groceries at home)