Grocery Shopping, Made Fun!

One of the hardest things to do when grocery shopping with your kids is keeping them entertained.  One section of the store that I've always found particularly challenging is the produce section.  Why?  Well, if you were a six year-old watching your parent load up on nasty tasting vegetables, you probably wouldn't be having a great time.

So what can we do?  While some parents might not have the patience to deal with it, I think it's a good idea to make things fun for your child.  Here's an idea that kept my six year-old son happy while I was looking around for the ingredients I'm trying in a "detox" green juice.  It has a few things in it that I don't typically purchase, so I was wandering around in circles trying to find things - My son was patient for about... two minutes.  Then the whining started.

"Are you done yet?"

"Can I get fruit snacks?"

"Can we go home?"

"Ew, that's gross!  Don't buy that!"

I was far from done with my shopping, so I put him on a project.  Looking around the produce section, my favorite thing has always been the color.  Raw vegetables and fruits are actually quite beautiful. Basing my idea around that, I decided to have my son focus on color and create me a rainbow.

I gave him a few ground rules to get him started: 

• First, he had to hold on to the shopping cart and stay with me while he looked (safety first, right?).  
• Second, we used the "normal" rainbow - no black, pink etc.  
• Third, he had to find the colors in order.  Red first, orange second, etc.

With the rules decided, he got started.  The store was running a bell pepper sale so red was easy - those things were EVERYWHERE.  Orange was another easy one - oranges!  As the rainbow went on, though, it got a bit more challenging.  Here's what my little guy ended up with:

• Red: Bell Pepper
• Orange: Navel Orange
• Yellow: Lemon
• Green: Avocado
• Blue: Blueberries
• Purple: Red Onion

As you can see, my boy did a good job!  It kept him occupied for about ten minutes, while I gathered everything I was looking for.  Getting him involved and excited in the produce section made our trip to the grocery store seem a lot quicker.  Plus, he was in a good mood and felt like he accomplished something.

I'm a huge believer in empowering kids.  Give them the occasional challenge or fun project and see what they can do!  I'm looking forward to challenging myself more as my son gets older.  The more he learns, the harder it is for me to keep him on his toes!