by Karen Cole
“Do we haaave to go to the grocery store?” Of course your kids have to
come with you. You have nowhere to leave them, and anyway, you’d hate
for them to miss out on all that Big Learning. Everyone knows that the
grocery store is a good place to practice adding and subtracting, but
that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Honestly, you could hold school
there for weeks and not run out of things to learn. Here are some ideas
for getting more than groceries at the grocery store.
1. Food Geography. Produce comes from all over the world, making
it an easy geography lesson. Often the source is marked on the package
or on boxes being unloaded. See who can find the fruit that has come
the farthest or track down the local stuff.
2. What Are They Selling? Teach your kids to be marketing savvy.
Ask them why they think the sugary cereals are on the lower shelves of
the cereal aisles—could it be so kids will see them and ask for them?
How about those candy racks in the checkout area, promotions on boxes
(free toy inside!), and ads on the shopping cart? Help your kids notice
the frequent use of superlatives and punchy phrases used in marketing
language. They might improve their vocabulary.
3. Is It Fresh? At the dairy aisle, help kids get in the habit
of checking expiration dates. They’ll have to do some mental math to
figure out how long the food will last.
4. Find the Bargain. Unit prices (price per hundred, price per
ounce, etc.) are ratios, an important middle-school math concept. Show
kids where to find unit prices (usually on the shelf edge below each
item), then ask them to find the best buy. For example, when buying
detergent, compare the unit price for an 80-ounce size with the unit
price for a 120-ounce size. You may find that different brands or sizes
of an item give prices in different units—quite an annoyance to the
shopper, but a math bonanza for the kids. To find a milk bargain, kids
might have to multiply a price per quart by four, and then compare it
with the price per gallon on a larger container.
5. Heavy Shopping. Ask your kids to bag what they think will be
a pound of grapes or other produce. Then let them check their estimate
on the scale. Estimating weight is a good practical math skill, as is
reading weight on a scale marked with fractions, tick marks, and whole
numbers.
6. Nutritional Scavenger Hunt. Announce that the kids can pick a
new breakfast cereal, but that it has to have fewer than ten grams of
sugar per serving. Show them where to find the information on the
nutrition labels and point out the serving sizes. Will they be
satisfied with a quarter cup of cereal in their bowl? Another day, get
them to find low-fat snacks or snacks that provide important vitamins
or minerals.
7. Best Food Contest. Ahead of time, talk about what makes a
good food. For example: good food tastes good, is nutritious, low in
things that are bad for you like chemicals, pesticides, and excessive
fat, and it is affordable. Decide on a point value for each
characteristic. At the store, have everyone nominate a food. You don’t
have to buy it, just note the pertinent information. Whoever finds the
best food wins (hint: pick organic broccoli).
8. New Food of the Week. Take turns picking out something new
for the family to try. The produce section and the international foods
aisle are good places to start.
9. Price that Cart. At checkout time, have everyone estimate the
total cost of items purchased—closest estimate wins. Kids (adults too)
are often surprised at the high cost of food. You’ll be amazed at how
close you can get to the actual total with practice. Use math to
improve you next estimate: have your younger kids count how many items
you bought and your older kids figure out the average cost per item. On
the next trip, use that average cost figure to improve the accuracy of
your estimate.
10. Analyze the Receipt. Once you’ve all gasped at how expensive
the groceries were, you can spend some time figuring out why. When you
get the receipt, take it home and ask the kids to find the most
expensive items or categories. In our house, an embarrassingly large
percentage of the budget goes to beverages. But beware: the kids might
suggest you stop wasting money on all those fresh fruits and vegetables
when candy is so much cheaper.
Links for Learning More
Mental Math: bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/.
Nutrition: http://www.dole5aday.com/,
http://www.oldwayspt.org/.
Marketing Strategies: http://www.tobonline.com/ArticlePages/ArticlePagesVol64/vol64p64.htm
Dr. Karen Cole is a writer and curriculum developer. She is co-author
of Increasing Student Learning through Multimedia Projects (2002,
ASCD).
To share ideas or offer a Big Learning topic you would like to
see addressed, contact Karen Cole by e-mail at kcole@biglearning.com.